Thursday, December 20, 2012

Scarletta, a Minnesota Independent Publisher

Since its founding in 2005, Scarletta Press has been known for having a quality eclectic publishing collection. Recently, Scarletta Press has rebranded itself as simply "Scarletta".

The company now features four imprints: Scarletta Press, Scarletta Junior Readers, Scarletta Kids, and Red Portal Press. Scarletta Press, the original flagship, continues to feature adult titles while narrowing its genre focus to autobiographical fiction, creative nonfiction, and memoir. The Junior Readers imprint focuses on fiction and non-fiction books for middle-grade readers, while Scarletta Kids sparks imagination with engaging picture and story books for ages 0 to 8. Red Portal Press, a hybrid self-publishing imprint involving trade distribution, started this past fall with its first title Knives on the Cutting Edge by Bob Macdonald.

Scarletta started publishing children’s titles in 2011 when they acquired their first middle-grade fiction, Lost in Lexicon by Pendred Noyce. The Ice Castle, Noyce’s second book, came out in August 2012 as their second children’s title.

Besides expanding from 2–3 titles annually to 10–12 titles annually, Scarletta has also created a new online store. It has partnered with ABDO Publishing Group for various titles in each season, allowing Scarletta to redesign institutional titles and place them in the trade, special, gift, and mass merchandise markets.


Scarletta’s spring 2013 title list features six titles across three of its imprints, with the majority of authors being from Minnesota. Determined to Matter by Jen O’Hara, an adult nonfiction about facing the loss of a child to an inoperable brain tumor, will be published June 1 in the Scarletta Press imprint. Scarletta Junior Readers features The Mighty Quinn by Robyn Parnell (May 2013), a humorous fiction story about growing up in the fifth grade, and Cool World Cooking by Lisa Wagner (July 2013), a cookbook for young chefs. Their three Scarletta Kids titles Nalah and the Pink Tiger by Anne Sawyer-Aitch (March 2013), A Day at the Lake by Stephanie Wallingford and Dawn Rynders (March 2013), and Betsy’s Day at the Game by Greg Bancroft (April 2013), will all feature ancillary products and interactive activities.

The company’s fall 2013 title list features a similar mix of authors across imprints withan adult fiction title, two junior readers, and three kid’s books.

Scarletta can be thought of as a new company, one with fresh and vibrant ideas driven by consumer-dedicated market strategy. “Publishing is challenging, complex, yet exciting,” says publisher Nancy Tuminelly. “Our goal is to positively and effectively impact our readers’ lives. Our tagline sums it up for us: Publishers by trade. Readers at heart.”

Want to find out more? Check out Scarletta's website.