Crown Publishing Group

Crown Publishing Group

Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Book publishing
Predecessor	Outlet Book Company
Founded	1933
Founder	Nat Wartels, Bob Simon
Fate	Merged with Random House Publishing Group (2018)
Headquarters	New York City , United States
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Nat Wartels, Alan Mirken, Joseph Reiner
Products	Fiction and non-fiction books
Parent	Penguin Random House

The Crown Publishing Group operates as a subsidiary under Penguin Random House, offering a diverse range of fiction and non-fiction titles. Originating in 1933 as the remaindered books distributor known as Outlet Book Company, it transitioned to publishing original works under the Crown imprint starting in 1936. Crown became part of Random House in 1988, functioning independently until its 2018 integration with Random House's adult publishing division.

Prominent authors published by Crown include Jean M. Auel, Max Brooks, George W. Bush, Deepak Chopra, Ann Coulter, Andrew Cuomo, Giada De Laurentiis, Will Ferrell (writing as Ron Burgundy), Gillian Flynn, Jim Gaffigan, Ina Garten, Mindy Kaling, Rachel Maddow, Barack Obama, and Michelle Obama among others.

Outlet Book Company

Established in 1933 by Nat Wartels and Bob Simon, the Outlet Book Company initially focused on selling overstock and remaindered titles before expanding into reprinting backlist and bestselling books. By 1936, it began issuing original publications under the Crown name.

During the 1940s, Crown expanded its portfolio through acquisitions of bankrupt publishers such as Covici-Friede, Henkle-Yewdale, and Robert M. McBride. Additional purchases included Arcadia House, Howell, Soskin, and Julian Press. In 1963, Clarkson Potter became affiliated with Crown.

Under the leadership of figures like Wartels, Alan Mirken, and Joseph Reiner, Crown evolved into a significant imprint for original works, producing landmark titles including Judith Krantz’s Princess Daisy, Jean M. Auel’s The Clan of the Cave Bear, and Alex Comfort’s The Joy of Sex.

Crown’s main office was situated at 225 Park Avenue South in Midtown Manhattan, occupying roughly . After its acquisition by Random House, this location was inherited and considered for sublease in 1990.

Random House

Crown Books, originally part of Outlet Book Company, remained independent until its purchase by Random House in 1988. Following Doubleday’s merger with Knopf in 2008, divisions such as Doubleday Business/Currency, Doubleday Religion, and WaterBrook Multnomah were absorbed into Crown. The Catholic imprint Image replaced Doubleday Religion in 2011. To optimize operations, Crown merged with Random House Publishing Group in 2018.

Imprints

After the restructuring in 2018, Crown Publishing’s imprints were organized into three main clusters within Random House. The trade cluster includes Crown, Crown Archetype, Broadway Books, Hogarth, Three Rivers Press, and Tim Duggan Books. The illustrated nonfiction cluster consists of Clarkson Potter, Harmony Books, Rodale Books, and Ten Speed Press—which houses sub-imprints Lorena Jones Books and Watson-Guptill. The third cluster specializes in business titles, conservative political works, and Christian literature with imprints such as Currency (formerly Doubleday/Crown Business), Crown Forum, Convergent, Image, Multnomah, and WaterBrook.

Several former imprints—including Amphoto Books, Bell Tower Press, Orion Books (not connected to the Orion Publishing), Shaye Areheart—and subsidiaries like Gramercy Publishing have either been discontinued or reassigned within the Random House structure.