Hachette Book Group and The Stable Book Group Announce New Distribution Venture for Independent Publishers

June 9, 2025 – Hachette Book Group US Distribution and The Stable Book Group today announced the formation of Stable Distribution (stabledistribution.com), a new distribution company designed to provide independent publishers with a powerful and innovative new path to book sales and logistics in North America.

Stable Distribution will be powered by a partnership between Hachette Book Group US Distribution, which will provide warehousing, logistics, and fulfillment services, and The Stable Book Group, which will lead sales and operations for client publishers. Stable Distribution will launch in North America, and operate out of Hachette’s state-of-the-art Indiana warehouse.

The new venture is being built by a team of seasoned industry leaders, including Chris Gruener (CEO, The Stable Book Group), Keith Riegert (President, The Stable Book Group), Brooke Warner (COO, The Stable Book Group), and Chitra Bopardikar (CEO, Global Publishers Group).

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Hachette Book Group,” said Chris Gruener, CEO of The Stable Book Group. “Our goal is to open a new avenue for indie publishers looking to grow their businesses and reach through distribution. The recent consolidation across client distribution has made it significantly harder for independent voices to reach the market. Stable Distribution is our response—an operation built to create more opportunities, more discoverability, and more support for publishers who want to thrive on their own terms.”

“At Hachette we understand and recognize what best-in-class distribution services mean to publishers,” said Russell Evans, Business Development Director, Hachette UK Distribution and HBG US Distribution. “Under this model we are not just providing our services to one independent publisher, but to a group. We successfully delivered this solution in the UK, so to now offer this in the US, and in partnership with the amazingly talented team at Stable Distribution, is equally pleasing and exciting to be part of. We are all delighted about this new partnership and look forward to them joining our distribution family.”

“We have been looking for a partner that will allow us to scale and deliver services to more publishers, while maintaining our market strategy of focusing services on medium to large clients,” said Todd McGarity, VP US Business Development, Hachette Book Group. “This partnership with Stable Distribution will allow Hachette to continue to differentiate itself in the US distribution market, while providing services to independent presses who need support now more than ever.”

Stable Distribution will launch its first season in Spring 2026 and is currently in active discussions with a range of independent publishers seeking distribution services. Initial client publishers will include Ulysses Press, Trafalgar Square Books, VeloPress Books, Skybox Press, Montague Books, and Mountain Gazette Books, all of which will transition from Simon & Schuster’s distribution to the new platform in January 2026. She Writes Press, The Stable’s hybrid publisher run by Brooke Warner, will continue to be distributed by Simon & Schuster.

“We are deeply grateful for Simon & Schuster’s partnership over the past five years,” said Keith Riegert, President of The Stable Book Group. “Their extraordinary team helped us grow into the company we are today. While it’s bittersweet to leave such an incredible organization, Stable Distribution is the next step on the roadmap we envisioned when we founded The Stable Book Group—an opportunity to build a distribution ecosystem truly tailored to the needs of independent publishers.”

All publishers joining Stable Distribution will be integrated via Perfect Bound, The Stable Book Group’s end-to-end publishing management platform. Through Perfect Bound, clients gain access to a full suite of tools including title management, real-time sales and inventory tracking, automated royalty accounting, and a global print-on-demand and offset printing marketplace.