Quirk Books

Background Information

Logo for Quirk Books

Mission and History

Quirk Books was established in 2002 in Old City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded by David Borgenict, best-selling author of the Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook series. It was started as a book packager for publishers such as Chronicle books, but then started publishing its own books, mostly exclusively in the gift books category. 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 have their books distributed world-wide by Penguin Random House. Brett Cohen, who worked with Quirk Books as their acting president, stepped down in 2021 as the original founder, David Borgenict, stepped back 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

As said above, Quirk Books was recently sold to Andrew McMeel Publishing as of October 2025. The original founder and president, David Borgenict, 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 22 employees as of June 2025. Around this time, 13 employees of Quirk Books elected to form a union with the NewsGuild of Greater Philadelphia. In 2021, when Brett Cohen stepped down, Borgenict became the president and Jhantheigh 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 aquired 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 Dave Borenicht as the publisher under the imprint. Borenicht 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

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.

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, 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.

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.

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.