Introducing Lou Aronica and new publishing venture, The Story House

In 1995, Lou Aronica moved to Avon Books to spearhead a turnaround of that company as SVP and Publisher. He instituted significant changes to the company’s industry-leading romance program, which led to the largest growth period in the program’s history to that point.

Committing the company to a profitable path of publishing for dedicated readers, he launched a series of imprints focused on science fiction, literary fiction and nonfiction, mystery, pop culture, health, history and teen literature. Most of these imprints had bestsellers almost immediately.
In 1999, Aronica left Avon after the acquisition of the company by The News Corporation. The creative investment that he made in that house continues to pay significant dividends. In February 2001, a project he created based on the NBC soap opera “Passions” reached #4 on the New York Times bestseller list. At the same time, two writers he built publishing programs for, Dennis Lehane and Susan Elizabeth Phillips, hit the Times hardcover list for the first time while two other writers, J.A. Jance and Stephanie Laurens, hit the Times paperback list for the first time. Another romance writer he projected for stardom, Lisa Kleypas, hit the Times list in June 2001, and Bruce Feiler and Peter Robinson hit a short time later. More recently, Neil Gaiman, an Aronica acquisition, hit #1 on the New York Times fiction list.

In recent years, Aronica has been the President of The Fiction Studio, an editorial development company. Aronica is also a published novelist and nonfiction writer. His first novel, The Forever Year, was published in 2003 and his second, Flash and Dazzle, was published in 2007. His nonfiction books include A Million Thanks (written with Shauna Fleming), The Discipline Miracle (written with Dr. Linda Pearson), The Culture Code (written with Clotaire Rapaille), Riding the Blue Train (written with Bart Sayle and Surinder Kumar), The Secret Psychology of How We Fall in Love (written with Dr. Paul Dobransky), Miraculous Health (written with Dr. Rick Levy), The Power of Female Friendships (written with Dr. Paul Dobransky), and the upcoming book, The Element (written with Sir Ken Robinson).

In early 2008, Aronica announced the creation of The Story Plant, a book publishing company he founded with partner Peter Miller. The Story Plant, distributed by Perseus, will publish its first books in Fall 2008.

The Story Plant is open for submissions. You can visit their website at www.thestoryplant.com.

1 comment:

  1. Great bio. It's good to get a look at the people behind the book - besides the author, that is.

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