Bay/SOMA Publishing Acquires Bay Books & Tapes

Posted on August 1, 2001

A newly-formed California corporation, Bay/SOMA Publishing, Inc. announced it has acquired all of the substantial assets of San Francisco-based Bay Books & Tapes, Inc., from Applica Consumer Products, Inc., of Miami Lakes, Florida. Applica is a distributor of a broad range of household appliances.

The new company will continue publishing operations under the new name and ownership at the same offices in San Francisco. Bay/SOMA Publishing publishes and markets four-color illustrated cookbooks, gardening and interior design books to bookstores and to gift and gourmet outlets nationwide, as well as through television telemarketing.

The principals in the new company are James Connolly, President and Publisher, who has headed up operations at Bay Books & Tapes for five years, and Bill Schwartz, CEO, formerly founder and CEO at Hi-Tech Public Relations, a leading San Francisco public relations agency serving technology clients. Mr. Schwartz has also produced stage productions and was responsible for the 1999 resurrection of San Francisco's Eureka Theatre.

``We are very excited about the potential for the newly formed company. We have a strong backlist that includes the best-selling Low-Carb Meals in Minutes, plus many other titles with celebrity chefs, including Martin Yan and Jacques Pepin. Our television companion books represent some of the most popular books sold on television, and we have several new titles in the pipeline about which we are very excited,'' said James Connolly, Publisher and President.

Bay Books & Tapes was originally part of San Francisco's public television station, KQED-TV, Inc., until it was sold to Windmere Corporation (now Applica) in 1996. In a licensing agreement with KQED-TV, Bay Books will continue to focus on publishing and marketing companion books and tapes for Public Television series, featuring popular TV chefs. SOMA Books will feature books about cooking, gardening and interior design. Bay and SOMA books are distributed nationally to the booktrade by Publishers Group West of Berkeley, California. Gift and gourmet outlets are sold directly and a number of Bay and SOMA titles are featured in various national lifestyle catalogs.



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