Arcadia Publishing acquires New Orleans publisher

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Mount Pleasant history publisher, Arcadia Publishing, has acquired a New Orleans book publisher that specializes in regional books about the city and the surrounding area, the company said in a news release.

Scott Campbell founded River Road Press in 2014 after previously working at Pelican Publishing, which Arcadia bought last year. He will join Arcadia as the publisher of Pelican Publishing. River Road Press will merge its catalog with Pelican Publishing’s list.

“Having previously spent a decade at Pelican, I have the deepest appreciation for its unique role in New Orleans culture,” Campbell said in a statement.

Arcadia President and CEO David Steinberger said he was glad someone with Campbell’s background was rejoining the company to lead Pelican Publishing.

“I couldn’t be more pleased that this innovative company will join with Pelican, which has such an esteemed legacy of publishing in New Orleans and the surrounding region,” Steinberger said in a statement.

Arcadia has been on an acquisition tear. In August 2019, the company also purchased Wildsam, a guidebook publisher based in Austin, Texas. Pelican Publishing is much older than Wildsam, which was founded in 2012. Pelican was founded in 1926, and has a catalog of more than 2,000 titles.

Arcadia’s books can be found nationally in specialty and chain retailers. Many of the publisher’s books rely heavily on historic photographs, publishing images and information targeted to the local area where the books are sold. Some of the titles focus on specific subjects within a historic context, such as vintage postcards, true crime, military, sports figures and ghost stories, among others.