BTW Talks With Sterling Publishing Chief Following Sale to B&N

Charles Nurnberg, executive vice president of Sterling Publishing, wants to set the record straight.

Last week, when Barnes & Noble announced that it had acquired how-to publisher Sterling Publishing, some publishing experts predicted that Sterling would inevitably receive preferential treatment in B&N stores, and they wondered if the new arrangement ultimately would negatively affect Sterling's relationship with B&N's competitors -- Borders and independent bookstores.

Nurnberg, who is slated to head Sterling once the B&N deal closes -- and who will report to B&N CEO Steve Riggio -- told BTW, "I've been reading about that, and I want to clear all that up." He stressed that "Sterling is going to be run as a separate company, completely independent of Barnes & Noble. We've been in business for 53 years…. We're not changing our style at all, and we won't be a house publisher for [B&N]."

Barnes & Noble announced its purchase of Sterling on Thursday, December 12, buying the house for approximately $100 million, as reported by the New York Times. Nurnberg said that, prior to B&N's purchase, Sterling owner Lincoln Boehm originally had wanted to buy out his partner Burton Hobson, but was having trouble raising the money and so set out to find a buyer. B&N was attracted to Sterling, which has a current list of 4,500 titles, because of its distribution network, strong sales force, and editorial team, Nurnberg explained.

In a press release, Riggio said that the "acquisition brings two companies together with very similar publishing visions…. We believe that the strengths of each company will enable us to maximize value out of our respective retail and publishing enterprises…. Sterling's well-developed sales force gives us an immediate solution to distributing Barnes & Noble publications to the trade and special markets." The sale is expected to close in 45 days.

Not surprisingly, news of the acquisition made some publishers that compete in Sterling's niche market unhappy. Publishers Weekly quoted an executive at one competitor as predicting preferential treatment for Sterling titles and even the possibility of a "Sterling section" in B&N stores. Meanwhile, others publishing experts questioned how this would affect Sterling's role as category captain at B&N's leading competitor, Borders.

Sterling's Nurnberg, however, said that, for B&N at least, the purchase is more about making B&N books "more available to more people" by taking advantage of Sterling's sales force and distribution network. As for preferential treatment at B&N, he was incredulous. "Take craft books for instance, we cover the market," he said. "But there are other [craft] books out there that are good. Barnes & Noble's carries 150,000 titles, and I have 4,500 total" so the idea that Sterling could dominate the how-to area seems unlikely, he said.

BTW asked Nurnberg whether the purchase would have a negative impact on Sterling's relationship with independent booksellers or Borders. Nurnberg hopes it will not. "We will continue to serve [independent bookstores] as we always have," he said. "We will stand by them; we will do co-op and continue to publish high quality books and [offer] price points that are excellent. What's important is to put out books that sell well and have low return rates…. We have always been conscious of independent bookstores and will remain that way."

As for Borders, Nurnberg said that he spoke with the company this week and the publisher will remain a category captain at their stores.

Nurnberg said a number of previously proprietary B&N books will be made available through Sterling's distribution network, and he did not rule out the possibility of publishing proprietary B&N books. "We might do that for them, but we could do it for Border's or for Books a Million -- we're a publishing company. We'll do things that typical publishing companies do." --David Grogan