Raincoast Books
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Raincoast Books is a Canadian book publishing company. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, the company produces a range of fiction and non-fiction titles for both adults and children.
Authors who have published work with Raincoast include Anne Fleming, Alison Pick, Colin McAdam, George Bowering, Paul William Roberts, Naim Kattan, Roy Miki and Bill Gaston. The company is also the Canadian publisher of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books, and the Canadian distributor for Lonely Planet travel guides and American and UK works published by Bloomsbury, Chronicle Books and many others.
Raincoast is also active in support and Canadian distribution for major graphic novel publishers Drawn & Quarterly and Fantagraphics Books. Successful graphic novels from these houses include Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography by Chester Brown, Ghost World by Daniel Clowes and Optic Nerve (comic) by Adrian Tomine.
Short History:
Founded by Mark Stanton and Allan MacDougall in 1979, Raincoast started life as a consignment wholesaler that shared overhead, warehouse space and staff with the pair’s sales agency, Stanton & MacDougall.
Stanton and MacDougall capitalized on the company’s geographical location (Vancouver) by focusing on rapidly re-supplying western booksellers with high-demand, bestselling titles from eastern-based publishers. To this day, Raincoast remains the leader in fastest Canadian distribution service, not just to western Canada but nationally.
In its first decade of operation Raincoast added exclusive distribution to the business, taking on such well-respected publishers as Chronicle Books and Lonely Planet. By 1989, the company added a publicity and promotions department under Kevin Williams, who later became a partner in the business. The Raincoast publishing program officially started in 1989 with the publication of Medicine, Madams and Mounties. By 1991 Raincoast had 17 titles bearing its imprint, and represented more than 30 publishers in Canada.
The national, #1 bestseller status of Nick Bantock’s Griffin & Sabine, co-published by Raincoast and Chronicle Books, catapulted Raincoast into the national arena and also forced company restructuring. The sales agency was sold to sales manager, Kate Walker, whose company Kate Walker & Co. continues to represent Raincoast to booksellers in western Canada. The consignment wholesaler, now called BookExpress, became a fully-fledged regional wholesaler, allowing the division to carry titles from a wider range of publishers. This development simplified things for customers by allowing for shared minimum orders and invoices and improved freight consolidation. The same advantages are now extended to all four divisions of Raincoast: Raincoast Book Distribution, BookExpress, Raincoast Publishing and Publisher’s Group Canada.
Company websites: Raincoast Books http://www.raincoast.com
Raincoast Books Blog http://blogs.raincoast.com
Searchable catalogue of published and distributed titles: http://services.raincoast.com
Publishers Group Canada http://www.pgcbooks.ca
