Amazon has purchased Avalon Books for an undisclosed sum. The move means Amazon will acquire Avalon’s 3,000+ backlist titles, which focuses heavily on the romance, mystery and western genres. You can read the full press release here.
The purchase of Avalon Books underlines that Amazon is serious about becoming a publisher in its own right. Avalon’s titles will now be published under Amazon’s Montlake Romance and Thomas & Mercer imprints, and it’s not clear how prominent the Avalon brand name will be under the new deal. Attempts are to be made to secure ebook rights for some of the older Avalon titles for which such rights are not already in place.
Avalon Books was established in 1950 by Thomas Bouregy, and counts popular authors such as Holly Jacobs, Carolyn Hughey and Carolyn Brown among its big names. Since 1995, the company has been run by Bouregy’s daughter Ellen Bouregy Mickelsen, who will stay on for at least the next few months to help ensure a smooth transition.
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