 Ellie Claire, Summerside Press acquisitions ‘leverage strengths’
Guideposts has acquired Ellie Claire Gift & Paper Expressions and its subsidiary, Summerside Press.The two become separate divisions under Guideposts. Ellie Claire President Carlton Garborg will serve as senior vice president of Guideposts, running both entities.
The acquisition accomplishes “two key strategic objectives,” company officials said. Guideposts, which made the announcement in November, will be able to further expand into the retail market with Summerside Press titles, as well as offer Ellie Claire journals and gift products. Secondly, Minnesota-based Ellie Claire will benefit from having New York-based Guideposts’ 2 million subscribers, 6 million book buyers and nearly 9 million online users. Guideposts President and CEO Richard Hopple told Christian Retailing that Guideposts launched the now “small, but growing” book imprint in 2008, and the acquisition enables the company to further expand into the Christian book market.  “This deal links Guideposts with a company that’s growing rapidly in a marketplace that has otherwise been going backwards or treading water,” he said. “Summerside has done a great job in the Christian fiction market and has developed a substantial following.”
Summerside Press’ fiction line features the “Love Finds You” and “Signature” series. Last year, Summerside Press signed husband-and-wife team Bodie and Brock Thoene for a sequel to their two popular previous “Zion” series, published by Tyndale House Publishers. The first in the new three-title series, The Gathering Storm, was released last August and tell the story of Loralei Kepler, the daughter of a German resistance leader and school headmaster. The as-yet-untitled second and third books will follow this spring and fall. Hopple, who declined to disclose the financial terms of the deal, added that Summerside’s revenues have grown 30% since the company began in 2007. A nonprofit company, Guideposts was founded in 1945 by Norman Vincent Peale, his wife, Ruth Stafford, and Raymond Thornburg.
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