Cedar Fort Acquires Horizon Publishers

Cedar Fort, Incorporated (Springville, Utah) purchased Horizon Publishers (Bountiful, Utah) on May 1, 2004.

Horizon’s outdoor, cooking, stitchery, and music product lines will expand Cedar Fort’s book offerings significantly. According to Cedar Fort CEO Lyle Mortimer, “We’ve long admired the quality of these new Horizon lines, and we’re excited to be able to bring them to our customers.” With the addition of Horizon’s product lines and ongoing production, Cedar Fort sales volume will grow by nearly 30 percent, accounting for about 25 percent of the Utah book market. “This will add hundreds of titles to our offering,” said Mortimer. “And our publishing rate will increase from 65 new books last year to nearly 100 titles per year.”

The acquisition has required remodeling Cedar Fort warehouse facilities and increasing production staff; all warehousing and production for both companies will be consolidated at Cedar Fort’s Springville facilities where the Horizon imprint will continue to be published.

Horizon owners Duane and Jean D. Crowther have been publishing books for nearly 40 years and are excited to continue in a publishing relationship that will give them more time for editing and writing projects; they will publish their future works with Cedar Fort. According to Mr. Crowther, “Our hundreds of excellent books and products are held in high regard by the buying public; we have enjoyed our relationship with so many fine authors, as well as with the retail outlets that support our products. Cedar Fort helps us ensure that what we hold dear will continue to be cared for while allowing us to keep active in the book marketplace we’ve come to love and enjoy.”

Cedar Fort, Incorporated is based in Springville, Utah where it has been a leading publisher of LDS fiction and non-fiction titles since its founding in 1986. Horizon Publishers is based in Bountiful, Utah, where it has published highly regarded outdoor, cooking, stitchery, music, and LDS doctrinal books since 1970.