Effective May 1, 2021, Penguin Random House Publisher Services will sell and distribute the entire frontlist and backlist across all sales channels worldwide for Kingston Imperial, a new independent press founded by music industry veteran, audiobook producer, author, and publisher Marvis Johnson.
Kingston Imperial publishes a range of both fiction and nonfiction, with specialities in urban thrillers, music, memoir, true crime, and cookbooks. The list includes such novelists as Miasha and SLMN, actors Columbus Short and Erica Peeples, and upcoming biographies of figures in hip hop and pop culture.
Before starting Kingston Imperial, Johnson formed Urban Audio Books in 2008, one of the largest independent Black-owned audiobook publishers. In 2013, he branched out to print and, in altogether has published more than 800 titles.