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North Point to Stop Publishing New Books

By EDWIN McDOWELL
Published: November 30, 1990

North Point Press, a well-regarded independent house, yesterday became the latest casualty of the hard times in book publishing when it said it would stop publishing new titles after its spring 1991 list. It will, however, continue to publish books on its backlist.

The 10-year-old North Point Press has published more than 280 books, including titles by Evan S. Connell, Beryl Markham, James Salter, Guy Davenport, Wendell Berry and M. F. K. Fisher.

Calling the decision "heartbreaking," Jack Shoemaker, the editor in chief and a founder of the Berkeley, Calif., publisher, said North Point had held serious talks with a number of potential buyers. "But for a variety of reasons of their own, each of them chose not to pursue the matter," he said.

The last negotiations were with Island Press in Washington, which specializes in conservation books. Efforts to reach officials of Island Press last night were unsuccessful.

"It's a big loss," said Roger W. Straus, the president of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, which has distributed North Point's books since 1985. "They have done some extraordinarily good books, and they were much beloved, especially by the West Coast booksellers, because they mixed regional publishing with general trade publishing. But they weren't able to move it up the notches that were necessary to survive."

North Point's sales averaged $2 million to $3 million a year.

Last week, a book published by North Point, "Crow and Weasel," a fable by Barry Lopez, appeared on The New York Times best-seller list of hardcover fiction. It was the fourth best seller in the company's history.

The others were "West With the Night" and "Splendid Outcast," both by Beryl Markham, and "Son of the Morning Star," a nonfiction account of Custer at Little Big Horn, by Evan S. Connell. A novel by Mr. Connell, "The Alchymists' Journal," is scheduled for publication in the spring.

North Point recently published a new translation, by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, of "The Brothers Karamazov" by Dostoyevsky.

A North Point spokeswoman said yesterday that the company would keep its office open to publish and promote the books scheduled for publication through June, but that it anticipates closing the office on Aug. 1.

After that date, she said, William Turnbill, the publisher and owner of the company, will continue to reprint and sell previously published books.

Negotiations for distribution and service of the backlist are under way with Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
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