Multimedia Firm Buys August House

By Jim Milliot
Publishers Weekly — March 23, 2005

Marsh Cove Productions, an Atlanta-based multimedia company, has acquired August House Publishers for an undisclosed price. Located in Little Rock, Ark., August House specializes in children's books and spokenword audio. August House will continue to be run by Ted and Liz Parkhurst who will remain in Little Rock.

Steve Floyd, head of the 18-month old Marsh Cove, said the August House titles "give us a great foundation" to develop products for television, the movies and the Internet. Ted Parkhurst said the additional resources of Marsh Cove, both in terms of funding and manpower, "will give us the opportunity to do things we had though of, but couldn't afford." First new products include Web-based activities that tie-in to books and possible DVDs based on August House titles.

Parkhurst says the sale to Marsh Cove comes about one year after August House began to rebound from a business slump that began with September 11 and continued with the decline in funding to libraries, a crucial market for the company. Since last July, sales are up about 30% led by Spicy Hot Colors and The Pig Who Went Home on Sunday. August House, which plans to publish 16 new titles this fall, has a backlist of 364 titles, with two-thirds books and one-third spokenword audio.

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About August House

Recently recognized as one of "America's 101 Top Independent Publishers," August House is a highly-acclaimed and award-winning multimedia publisher of children's stories and folktale anthologies. August House's is based in Atlanta, GA.

August House Media Contact

Rob Cleveland
404-442-4422