Kensington Books

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Kensington Publishing Corp. is the largest publisher in the United States that is not considered one of the six "major publishers." As the major publishers, Random House, HarperCollins, Penguin Putnam, Simon & Schuster, Little, Brown and Company (a division of Hachette, formerly Warner Books) and St. Martin's Press are all now parts of larger corporations, Kensington has become the largest publishing house to remain independent.

Kensington was founded in 1974 by Walter Zacharius. Steven Zacharius became President and Chief Executive Officer in 2005. Michael Rosamilia, VP, has been the Chief Financial Officer since 1989. Laurie Parkin is the VP and Publisher.

Kensington is known as a commercial trade publisher publishing in mass market, tradepaper and hardcover. They are the leading American publisher of Women's Fiction and Romance. They also publish westerns, mysteries, true crime and non-fiction. They acquired Citadel Press in 2000 and it became the focal point for their non-fiction program. Kensington recently acquired the publishing assets of Holloway House which published such noted Af-Am authors as Donald Goines and Iceberg Slim.

Kensington's Dafina imprint is the leading imprint of fiction and non-fiction for the African-American market and features authors such as Carl Weber, Mary Monroe and Mary B. Morrison. They have also recently started a new co-venture imprint with Just Us Books, called Marimba Books, which will feature multicultural books for children.

[edit] Imprints

Zebra (romance, and formerly science fiction and fantasy)
Brava (erotic romance)
Pinnacle (commercial fiction: thrillers, true crime)
Citadel (general non-fiction, Lyle Stuart)
Aphrodisia (erotica)
Dafina (African-American)
Twin Streams (wicca, alternative health)
Urban Soul (women's fiction, joint venture with Urban Books)
Vibe Street Lit

[edit] Authors

Noted authors include NYT Bestsellers Lisa Jackson, Fern Michaels, and JoAnne Fluke. They publish many other bestselling authors including William W. Johnstone, Wendy Corsi Staub and Jacqueline Frank. The Citadel imprint has sucess with titles such as I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell by Tucker Max (NYT list for over one year), and The Alphabet of Manliness by Maddox.