Arcadia Publishing
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Arcadia Publishing is the leading publisher of local and regional history in the United States, with over 3,500 local history books currently in print. Arcadia maintains its headquarters and southeast regional editorial office in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. The company also maintains regional editorial offices in Portsmouth, New Hampshire (Northeast), Chicago, Illinois (Midwest) and San Francisco (West).
Arcadia is best known for its Images of America series, which uses photographs to chronicles the history of communities such as Marion, Ohio, Bangor, Maine and Manhattan Beach, California. With more than 200 vintage black-and-white photographs, each title focuses on a town or region, showing local people, places, and events of that community.
Other series include Images of Rail, Images of Sports, Images of Baseball, Black America, Postcard History, Campus History, Corporate History, and Then & Now.
Arcadia utilizes stringent guidelines for each type of book and the material included in each book. For example, each Images of America book is 128 pages in length.
Typical authors working with Arcadia are individuals who are interested in their local areas rather than professional full-time writers. Unlike private and vanity press publishing where the author bears the cost of printing, distribution, etc., authors working with Arcadia absorb only the costs associated with their research and licensing fees (if any) for image use in the book. Arcadia pays its authors a percentage of wholesale price for each book sold. Arcadia handles the publishing, marketing and returns. The books are printed in the United States.
Some articles on the internet quoting authors of Arcadia's books, as well as publishing industry insiders claim Arcadia's promotion of their books is "seriously lacking". "Arcadia Adopts a National View - Publisher's Weekly June 2004"
Arcadia distributes its books to major bookstore chains, independent bookstores, on-line bookstores, museum stores, gift shops, and nontraditional locations.
In 2004 Arcadia Publishing published "Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade" by Robert M. Grippo and Christopher Hoskins. The book was a departure from the firm's usual "Images of America" series at 160 pages and using archival images from such sources as The New York Daily News and Macy's.
