Bookspan Launches Conservative Book Club

Posted on May 30, 2003

Bookspan, which operates over 30 clubs including the Book-of-the-Month Club, the Literary Guild and the History Book Club, is launching a new club devoted to books with a conservative viewpoint. Brad Miner, a publishing and magazine veteran, will serve as Editor of the new club, which is expected to be introduced later this year.

Mr. Miner was also named an Executive Editor at Bookspan whose responsibilities include acquiring conservative-oriented books for the company's other book clubs. He reports to Mel Parker, Senior Vice President and Editorial Director and his appointment is effective immediately.

"Increasingly, readers are telling us they want to read books with a conservative point of view," said Markus Wilhelm, Bookspan's Chief Executive Officer. "The best seller lists are filled with such books by authors including Bill O'Reilly, Bernard Goldberg, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity and Michael Savage, all conservatives. The vast majority of popular radio talk show hosts are conservative and there is the popularity of the Fox News Channel."

As further evidence that there is a market for a conservative book club, Mr. Wilhelm pointed to the success of conservative Regnery Publishing as well as two publishers, Crown Publishing Group and Penguin Group USA, last month announcing nonfiction conservative imprints. Both imprints are expected to publish 15 books each annually initially.

From 1989 until 1992, Mr. Miner was Literary Editor of National Review as well as Editor-in-Chief of National Review Books. Prior to that, Mr. Miner worked as sales manager and then senior editor at Bantam Books and Harper & Row. Most recently, Miner was an independent consultant. Miner is also the author of several books, including The Concise Conservative Encyclopedia: 200 of the Most Important Ideas, Individuals, Incitements and Institutions that Have Shaped the Movement (Free Press, 1996) and Good Order: Right Answers to Contemporary Questions (Touchstone, 1995) as well as the forthcoming The Compleat Gentleman: Chivalry in a Democratic Age (Spence Publishing, 2003).