An interesting publishing industry development was announced last week, as The Quarto Group signed an agreement with Dennis Publishing Ltd to distribute the Viz Annual through their Quarto Distribution Services business. Norah Myers caught up with David Inman, Managing Director, Quarto Partners to find out more.

1) Why is it important to you to distribute Viz Annual? 

Viz is a phenomenon in the UK magazine world and we’re delighted to add this prestigious brand to our list of distributed publishers. One of the strengths of Quarto as a Group is that we work with a large sales force to sell into as many sales channels as possible, beyond just traditional bookstores and booksellers. Through Quarto Distribution Services, we offer independent publishers the possibility to benefit from this platform – with the highest level of sales and distribution services.

We have put together a tailored plan to push sales of the Viz Annual and all ancillary publishing related to the Viz Comic and it’s great that they have decided to partner with us.

2) Which qualities do you look for in companies or contacts you’d like to partner with?

We constantly look for new distribution partners from around the world, in particular North America and the UK, but also in international markets. In general, there are a few criteria we look at when identifying new partnerships:

• We have existing sales resources in place to reach the accounts where the books need to be sold. This is the case with Viz.
• We are experts in the publisher’s subject area. For example, we sell Haynes’ US and UK imprints in North America as we have a long-established presence in the automobile books channel through our own imprint – Motorbooks.
• The publisher has a range of books in an adjacent part of a market that we already cater for. For instance, Zest Books – another new partner – publishes books for young adults. Even though we don’t have this market in Quarto’s portfolio, our very strong presence in the broader Children’s market makes us well-positioned to sell these books.
• And last but not least, there must be a good cultural fit between our teams!

3) How do you think this partnership will benefit The Quarto Group?

It is great to represent strong brands and books such as Viz. We currently work with over 35 publishers in the US and the UK, including the Natural History Museum, Private Eye, Murdoch Books, Haynes, and Exisle Publishing among many others. We always look for new opportunities to extend our reach and grow our business, and ultimately to bring as many books as possible to as many readers as possible.

4) What do you look forward to as the partnership progresses?

We look forward to help Viz reach their community of fans as well as new readers. And we are especially looking forward to working with Viz on the publishing programme for their 40^thanniversary in 2019.

David Inman manages the entrepreneurial arm of The Quarto Group – Quarto Partners. He has ownership of Quarto’s distribution services across the US and the UK and manages Quarto’s international publishing partnerships, looking for opportunities for growth around the world, in both English and foreign language.