Quirk Books

Background Information

Logo for Quirk Books

Quirk Books is a small publishing company that mostly publishes adult horror and gag books. It was founded by David Borgenicht in 2002 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, turning it into an established press for unconventional books for a diverse audience.

Mission and History

Quirk Books was established in 2002 in the Old City district of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded by David Borgenicht, best-selling author of the Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook series. It was started as a book packager under the name Book Soup Publishing for publishers such as Chronicle Books, but then started publishing its own books, mostly exclusively in the gift books category under Quirk Books Quirk's mission is to publish "seriously entertaining, engaging, and unconventional books for adults and children of a variety of genres," and since the beginning that has been their goal. Though they are headquartered in Philadelphia, they had their books distributed worldwide by Penguin Random House since January 2011. Brett Cohen, who worked with Quirk Books as their acting president, stepped down in 2021 as the original founder, David Borgenict, stepped into his role. In the early summer of 2025, Quirk Books laid off several staff members and paused their publishing program as a result of "marketplace and operational practices." However, in October 2025, after being on an acquisitions pause, Quirk Books was sold to Andrew McMeel Publishing, effective as of October 1st, 2025.

Ownership and Structure

The logo for the company that bought Quirk Books, Andrews McMeel Publishing.

As said above, Quirk Books was recently sold to Andrews McMeel Publishing as of October 2025. The original founder and president, David Borgenicht, will serve as the publisher under the Quirk Books imprint of Andrews McMeel Publishing. Before the acquisition, Quirk Books acted as an independent incorporated company, and does still currently work for profit. The publishing house was considered small, with only 27 employees as of January 2025 before the acquisition. Around this time, 13 employees of Quirk Books elected to form a union with the NewsGuild of Greater Philadelphia. In 2021, when the president and publisher of Quirk Books, Brett Cohen, stepped down, Borgenicht became the president and Jhanteigh Kupihea was promoted to publisher. Monkea Hewlett, who was the vice president and director of sales, also stepped down during this time. Other promotions were as followed: Nicole De Jackmo as the new senior vice president of sales, marketing and publicity, Megan Dipasquale as the vice president of finance, Andie Reid as the art director, Jane Morley as managing editor, and Mandy Sampson as senior production and sales manager.

Financial Information

Since Quirk Books was an incorporated company and is currently in transition of ownership, financial information is unavailable at this time.

News

As said before, Quirk Books was acquired by Andrews McMeels Publishing in October 2025, meaning that they will publish Quirk Book's frontlist and backlist titles. Quirk Books will become an imprint of the company, with David Borgenicht as the publisher under the imprint. Borgenicht seems optimistic, as he says "I’ve been a fan of Andrews McMeel since I was in high school and I opened my first The Far Side calendar. I’m thrilled to be placing Quirk in their hands, and I’m really looking forward to doing some creative, independent publishing together."

Publishing Program

Catalog

Quirk Books published 25 "strikingly unconventional" books every year when it was it's own independent company. It is said that "Quirk Book is known for publishing adult horror," but they "also have been known for giftable board books, offbeat nonfiction, and and middle-grade fantasy." Also, as said in their mission, they publish entertaining, engaging, and unconventional books for adults and children in a variety of genres. Along with profitable material, the website for Quirk Books also has a Teacher & Librarian Newsletter, events kits, gallery kits, activities, and reading group guides for free as a resource for educators, librarians, parents. etc. Publications are categorized by either genre, reading-level, or series, as well as most recent/upcoming publications at the top of the catalog. In partnership with Zazzle, along with their books, Quirk Books also sells a variety merchandize including clothing, magnets, stickers, posters, and mugs.

Notable Titles/Authors

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

This book, released on March 1st, 2009, sells as a "audacious retelling of English literature's more enduring novel," that of which being Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. The novel involves a terrible plague that falls upon the small village of Meryton where the previously dead have come back to life to terrify its inhabitants. Elizabeth Bennet, a fierce heroine, determines to wipe out all the zombies until she encounters the elusive Mr. Darcy. Throughout the novel, the pair have many moments of civil sparring while they are also violently sparring with zombies on the bloody battle-field. This book is available in paperback and e-book format.

The author, Seth Grahame-Smith, is a film and television writer/producer and New York Times bestselling author. He initially wrote from scripts for the History Channel to lyrics for Flava Flav. Seth also wrote a serious of unserious non-fiction books, but this novel was the novel that made him reowned. In fact, many authors wrote their own rendition of satirical classic novels, eventually developing it as a niche genre.This book was also adapted into screen-play format of the same name, being directed by Burr Steers, and was released in 2016, in which the poster of the movie won a Golden Trailer award for "Best Horror Poster."

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Different versions of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

This novel, released in 2013, tells the story of an abandoned orphanage in which the protagonist, sixteen-year-old Jacob, stumbles across when traveling on a remote island of Wales. As he explores the orphanage, named Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, he discovers that these children may have been more than just peculiar, they were dangerous, and were quarantined on the remote island for a reason. The worst of all, they may still even be alive. This book is available in hardcover, paperback, and e-book, as well as included in box sets with the whole series.

Author Ransom Riggs became a New York Times best-selling author for his novel. Because of the success of this novel, he wrote many sequels to this book, named Hollow City (#2), Library of Souls (#3), A Map of Days (#4), The Conference of Birds (#5), The Desolation of Devil's Acre (#6), and many more. He also wrote many other series, such as Talking Pictures and The Sherlock Holmes Handbook. This book was also adapted into screen-play format which was directed by famous horror director Tim Burton, eventually releasing under the same name in 2016. The movie won a Saturn Award for the "Best Fantasy Film" of that year.

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

Different versions of A Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

This novel, released in 2021, tells the story of Patricia Campbell, an ordinary southern middle-age woman. While her life is falling apart, she goes to her book club to keep herself sane; All the women sharing a love of true crime novels. However, one evening after book club, Patricia is attacked by her elderly neighbor, introducing the neighbor's handsome nephew, James Harris, into Patricia's life. He is well read and well traveled, and makes Patricia feel things she hasn't felt in a long time. However, when children go missing in town, Patricia starts to think that James may be more sinister than meets the eye. Patricia has to discover the secrets behind James, and who he actually is. This novel was a New York Times best seller, A Barnes & Nobles Best Fiction Book of 2020, and A Goodreads Choice Award Finalist. This book is also available in hardcover, paperback, and e-book format.

Grady Hendrix, an award-winning novelist and screenwriter in New York City, wrote this best selling novel along with other award-winning novels such as My Best Friend's Exorcism and How to Sell a Haunted House. His books were translated into more than twenty languages and sold over two million copies world-wide. He also wrote about the history of the horror paperback boom in the 70s and 80s in his novel Paperbacks from Hell, which won the Stoker Award for Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction.

Formats

Most traditional novels on the Quirk Book website are sold in hardcover, paperback, and e-book formats. These formats are sold through many different websites, such as Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, Target, etc. Since they also sell children's books, they sell books in board-book format to withstand the wrath of young children. However, Quirk Books do not sell books directly from their website, so the price of a book per format is different based on the seller. Across all shopping platforms, the average price for a paperback is between $7 and $15, the average price of a hardback is between $11 and $20, and the average price for an e-book is about $10. Board books are also sold at around $10-$11 on average. Quirk Books states that their preferred formats are board books and trade paperback originals, but they also focus on how the content pairs with the format, what the readers want, and how they can add something new and different to the category through format.

Brand Identity

An image of Quirk E. Cat used for his "Advice Columns" on the Quirk Books Blog page.

Their branding, online and in reality, definitely matches their mission of providing unconventional books to many different readers. Along with the unconventional titles of the novels listed above, other novel titles are listed as I'm Just a Little Guy: How to Escape the Horrors and Get Back to Dillydallying, Crafting for Sinners, and Gay the Pray Away. For being an incorporated press, it is impressive how Quirk Books can publish books with somewhat niche topics and titles. Most of their book titles are drawn or produced in a cartoon-like style, which amplifies the non-serious nature of their books, while also talking about deep topics such as mental health. Along with their online persona, Quirk Books also has a cute cartoon mascot named Quirk E. Cat. As his name suggests, he is a cartoon cat with a top-hat, monocle, and lapel chain across his chest while also holding a book and smiling. The juxtaposition between the cute kitty mascot and it's serious accessories also portrays the funny yet serious nature that Quirk Books believes in.

Editorial Staff

The CEO and founder of Quirk Books, David Borgenicht.

Since Quirk Books was just recently acquired by Andrews McMeel Publishing as of October 2025, the transfer of ownership doesn't specify the staff of the Quirk Books imprint. However, the original founder, David Borgenicht, from the previous company has claimed that he will be returning to work for the Quirk Books imprint.

David Borgenicht

Before Quirk Books, David worked for six years at Running Press before going off to found his own company. He first founded the book packaging company Book Soup Publishing in 1998, then Quirk Books in 2002 as Founder and CEO. His vision for Quirk Books was for to become "an innovative publishing company with the heart of an entertainment company." Sometime before 2021, David Borgenicht hired Brett Cohen to be the president and publisher for Quirk Books. Then, in 2021, Brett Cohen resigned from both of his positions. Dave Borgenicht took he position as president and made Jhanteigh Kupihea the publisher for the company. After the acquisition, David claims that he will be working as the publisher for the Quirk Books imprint. Beside being in the publishing industry, he is also an established author for children's books, the most popular will being The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook series.

Audience

Director's Audience

From originally starting as a book publishing company, to publishing gift/gag books, and now publishing every genre for every audience, it has succeeded in reaching its audience besides falling out in the past recent years. On Quirk Books' website, they commit to working with online influencers, bloggers, and bookstagrammers to build successful relationships, have their books early tested for publishing, and to spread their name to even more people. In 2017, for their fifthteenth anniversary, they launched Book Pop!, a year-long celebration of books and pop culture in which librarians and booksellers could host events. Quirk Books also had a program called the "Super Secret Middle Grade Book Club," in which middle grade readers would be given ARCs (Advanced Readers Copy) every other month of an upcoming Quirk Book in exchange for reviews. Once the reviews were received, the company gave the middle grade readers their own copy as a thank you. While Quirk Books doesn't sell merch on their official website, they do sell mcerhandise of their books on their official merch store on Zazzle. On their instagram page, post advertisements for their upcoming books as well as cover reveals, birthday celebrations of previous publications, and messages from the authors about the specific books they published.

Reflection

Throughout the years, Quirk Books have given authors with unconventional ideas for novels the opportunity to establish their messages in a competitive publishing market, fulfilling their mission to publish unconventional novels of every genre for a diverse audience. With such successes as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children eventually becoming full screen-play films, it has made itself as an established indie publishing company in the sea of publishing houses. With it's partnership with Andrew McMeels Publishing, I can only hope that this publishing house can flourish and publish even more silly, yet serious novels.