Effective yesterday, National Book Network sold its small press distribution division, Biblio Distribution, to AtlasBooks, the distribution arm of BookMasters. Biblio's approximately 500 client publishers will become clients of Atlas under the terms of their Biblio contracts. Publishers' inventory will be transported from NBN's distribution center in Blue Ridge Summit, Pa., to Atlas's distribution center in Ashland, Ohio. Electronic title files have been transferred to Atlas.

Last fall, Atlas took on a majority of the 105 publishers distributed by BookWorld Companies, which abruptly went out of business (Shelf Awareness, October 3, 2007). With the Biblio purchase, Atlas represents more than 1,300 publishers to the trade and provides full distributor services for them; it offers limited fulfillment services to another 700 publishers. BookMasters also has divisions that handle a range of book services, including composition and design, offset and digital printing, binding and storage.

In a statement, Dave Wurster, COO of AtlasBooks and BookMasters, said, "We have the resources to focus our efforts on exceeding [Biblio publishers'] sales goals, while offering additional services such as direct-to-consumer sales support and marketing opportunities. My company's niche is, and has been, the small to mid-size press market."

Marianne Bohr, senior v-p of NBN, commented, "We launched Biblio in 2001 at the request of Ingram which was looking for efficient ways to purchase books from small presses. Since then, the distribution environment has changed in many ways, including the reentry of Ingram itself into the distribution end of the business. AtlasBooks has a strategic focus on small presses so they seemed to be the perfect new home for our Biblio clients."