Publication types Books Founded 1974 | No. of employees 85 Founder Walter Zacharius Country of origin United States of America | |
 | ||
Key people Steven Zacharius, Adam Zacharius Fiction genres romance, women’s fiction, African American, young adult, nonfiction, true-crime, western, mystery Imprints Dafina Books, KTeen, Aphrodisia, Citadel Press Profiles | ||
Kensington Publishing Corp. is a New York-based publishing house founded in 1974 by Walter Zacharius (1923–2011) and Roberta Bender Grossman (1946–1992). Kensington is known as “America’s Independent Publisher.” It remains a multi-generational family business, with Steven Zacharius succeeding his father as President and CEO, and Adam Zacharius as General Manager.
Contents
It is the house of many New York Times bestselling authors, including Fern Michaels, Lisa Jackson, Joanne Fluke and William W. Johnstone. In addition to the over 500 new titles that the company publishes each year, it has a vast and diverse backlist that includes classics such as The Minority Report by Philip K. Dick, Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo, I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell by Tucker Max and Being and Nothingness by Jean-Paul Sartre.
Kensington's imprints include Zebra Books, Pinnacle Books, Dafina, Citadel Press, and Lyrical Press, which provide readers with a range of popular genres such as romance, women’s fiction, African American, young adult and nonfiction, as well as true-crime, western, and mystery titles.
History
Kensington Books was founded by Walter Zacharius and Roberta Bender Grossman in 1974 as the successor to the paperback publisher Lancer Books, specializing in paperback romance novels. The Zebra Books and Pinnacle Books imprints debuted in 1975.
In 2008, Kensington acquired the publishing assets of Holloway House (publishers of Iceberg Slim).
Management
Steven Zacharius, son of founder Walter Zacharius, has been with the company since 1993 and has been President and CEO since 2005. He is also chairman of Kensington. The company's vice president, Michael Rosamilia, has been the CFO since 1989. Adam Zacharius, Steven's son, is General Manager and originally started working with Kensington seven years ago. Kensington is believed to be the only publishing company with three generations of family management.
The staff totals over 85 employees and, in addition to its internal sales team, Kensington has a distribution agreement with Penguin Random House Publisher Services’ global sales force.