Christian Retailing

Doubleday Religion imprint is retired Print Email
Written by Christine D. Johnson   
Monday, 07 March 2011 02:37 PM America/New_York

The Doubleday Religion imprint is being retired under changes at parent company Random House.

Catholic-interest titles from the business' Crown Publishing Group are to be published under the Image Books imprint. Established in 1954, Image is the only trade-publisher imprint devoted exclusively to Catholic-related topics.

Though the Doubleday Religion list has predominantly featured Catholic authors and Catholic-focused themes, it has included some evangelical releases. Among recent titles: Life Without Limits by Nick Vujicic, The Next Christians by Gabe Lyons and Love & War by John and Stasi Eldredge.

In a memo to staff explaining the moves, Michael Palgon, executive vice president and deputy publisher, Crown Publishing Group, said that the shifts “will enable us to even better focus our considerable talents, resources and expertise in support of our authors, while maintaining the editorial autonomy and distinct identities of our respective evangelical Christian and Catholic-interest publishing imprints.”

The new structure will see Editor in Chief Trace Murphy continuing to lead Image Books, reporting to Steve Cobb, whose new position is president and publisher, Waterbrook Multnomah and Image Books.