In its early years, Andrews McMeel's book division relied heavily on the parent company's well-known syndicated newspaper cartoons and columns while doing some original publishing. As the book division grew and expanded, it began to branch out into the areas like gift, narrative humor and popular culture. After joining the company as publisher in 2005, Kirsty Melville built on these strengths, and helped to identify and nurture the qualities that have shaped the company--such as its success in the selling of gift books and the creative latitude it gives its authors. Head of Ten Speed Press for a decade and earlier founding publisher of Simon & Schuster Australia, Melville helped refine the book side of the Kansas City, Mo., company. Other key parts of the picture are the value of storytelling and recognizing that, as Melville put it, "We're not funny, but we know what funny is."
Andrews McMeel Publishing's major areas of focus are comics and humor, cookbooks, keepsake and gift books, puzzles and games, general trade (particularly "quirky crafts," home and pet titles) and children's. "We've really focused the list into areas where we can be distinctive and have a track record and can bring to bear all our packaging and gift experience," Melville said.
Christine Schillig, v-p and editorial director of the book division and a veteran of Simon & Schuster, Harper and Putnam, expanded on this: "One of our strengths is that we focus on the things we do well. Editorially that makes it much easier to identify authors and subjects and projects that work for us. At the same time, we're also open to doing things that don't fit neatly into our categories." One example of something that didn't fit into Andrews McMeel's categories: Bikeman by Thomas F. Flynn, an epic poem about the CBS producer's experiences on September 11 in lower Manhattan that was published last fall. [Editor's note: Bikeman is an amazing book.]
An as-yet unwritten title could be about the parent company, which next year celebrates its 40th anniversary. Founded as the Universal Press Syndicate by the late Jim Andrews and John McMeel (whose relationship began when, as a student at Notre Dame, Jim Andrews rented a room from John McMeel's mother, herself a Notre Dame graduate), the company began by selling cartoons and columns to newspapers around the country. One of their first finds was a big one: Garry Trudeau, whose "Bull Tales" in the Yale Daily News was introduced to a wider audience in 1970 as Doonesbury.
Andrews McMeel Publishing continues to be independent and under family leadership, with Hugh Andrews, Jim's son, as CEO and president, John McMeel as chairman and Kathleen Andrews (Jim's wife) as vice chairman. James Andrews, Hugh's brother, is v-p of licensing. AMP produces the top-selling calendars in the nation, according to Bookscan, and includes such properties as Dilbert, the Office and Thomas Kinkade, among many others.