Two Dollar Radio acquired by Seven Stories Press

Seven Stories Press publisher Dan Simon joined Two Dollar Radio publisher Eric Obenauf in announcing today that Seven Stories had acquired the Columbus-based independent Two Dollar Radio.

With the deal, the financial terms of which were not disclosed, Obenauf will remain as Two Dollar’s publisher and editorial director, while his spouse, Eliza Wood-Obenauf, will continue as consulting editor. The couple will also continue operation of Two Dollar Radio Headquarters, the Parsons Avenue bookstore and cafe they opened in 2017, along with shop co-owners Brett Gregory and Gary Lovely. “Nothing will change with our bookstore,” Obenauf said in an email.

As part of the deal, Obenauf and Wood-Obenauf will become minority partners in Seven Stories, with Simon remaining majority owner. Two Dollar Radio staffer Gregory will also join Seven Stories, serving as publicity and marketing coordinator for the Two Dollar imprint, along with select Seven Story titles. (The three will continue to live and work in Columbus.)

Obenauf told Publisher’s Weekly that the couple views the move as “sort of the next generation of Two Dollar Radio,“ which launched in 2005 and celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. “Our authors and our books aren’t benefiting when we’re spending all of our time poring over spreadsheets and just trying to exist on a day-to-day basis,” he said. “So we see this as the next iteration of Two Dollar Radio that doesn’t just benefit our books and authors but also sustains Two Dollar Radio into the future for the next 20 years and beyond.”

Obenauf stressed the importance of maintaining independence in any deal, telling the magazine that “being acquired by one of the multinational corporations wasn’t ever something that we considered.”

Founded in 1995, the New York City-based Seven Stories boasts a deep catalogue highlighted by authors such as Angela Davis, Noam Chomsky, Octavia Butler and Howard Zinn, among many others. With completion of the deal, Two Dollar Radio becomes Seven Stories’ fourth imprint, joining its children’s imprint, Triangle Square Books for Young Readers, and a pair of Spanish-language imprints: Siete Cuentos and Ocean Sur.