FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOVEMBER 13, 2007
MACMILLAN AUDIO ACQUIRES
FOREIGN LANGUAGE AUDIO LINE
Macmillan Audio announced today the acquisition of Language Dynamics Inc., a developer of fast and easy to learn foreign language courses, and its Behind the Wheel® line of foreign language audiobooks. The deal was negotiated by Mary Beth Roche, Publisher of Macmillan Audio, and Mark Frobose, president of Language Dynamics Inc., who was represented by Peter Miller of PMA Literary and Film Management, Inc. Roche said, “Macmillan Audio has a long history of publishing award-winning and bestselling audiobooks across a wide variety of genres. This acquisition allows us to expand our publishing list and to bring the innovative Behind the Wheel® audiobooks to a much larger audience. At a time when publishers are striving to bring information to consumers across many mediums, we believe that the valuable, entertaining, and informative content that Behind the Wheel® offers is ideal for both the traditional audiobook market as well as the new, exciting channels of distribution available to audiobook listeners.” Under the new arrangement, Mark Frobose will serve as Editorial Director for the Macmillan Audio's foreign language program and will be charged with the creation and promotion of additional new language products. Macmillan Audio will continue to distribute current Language Dynamics Inc. and Behind the Wheel® audiobooks until early 2008, when it will begin to roll out new packaging and updated products to replace those currently available.
Mark Frobose founded Language Dynamics Inc. in 1981 and has experienced phenomenal success in his creation of the Behind the Wheel® audio line. About the sale of his company to Macmillan Audio, Frobose stated, “We felt that the time had come to serve our customers from a more powerful platform. Our audio courses will be more technologically accessible and better produced than ever before. We are honored to be associated with Macmillan, and to be better equipped to serve listeners with even greater quality language products as a result of this sale.”
Behind the Wheel® audiobooks use the Language Dynamics Method®, which is unique in providing the listener with English equivalents for all exercises, so the student quickly and easily develops a “foundation for fluency” in any foreign language. In addition, the Language Dynamics Method® uses a sentence building technique which allows the student to form original and useful sentences within minutes of starting any Behind the Wheel® audiobook. Since Behind the Wheel® audiobooks teach the most useful high frequency vocabulary first, the listener is able to immediately apply what he or she is learning. Motivation and the ability to communicate increase with each and every lesson. The result is fast and easy conversational ability in any language.
Mark Frobose is a nationally known multi-lingual foreign language expert and author who appears regularly as 'guest language expert' on radio and television shows. His creation of the Language Dynamics Method® has been featured by various media as an innovative kind of language teaching, and Behind the Wheel® has been featured in Men's Health magazine and on Martha Stewart Living Radio, “Good Day New York” (FOX), CBS Marketwatch and Crain's Chicago Business online, and forbes.com, among other media outlets. Language Dynamics Method® and Behind the Wheel® courses are available in all major languages.
Macmillan Audio, formerly Audio Renaissance, was founded in 1987 and published its first titles in 1988. The division was honored with prestigious Audie Awards in three categories in 2007, and has Pulitzer Prize-winning authors and Academy Award-winning narrators on its list. Macmillan Audio publishes audio editions of the best fiction and non-fiction books for adults and children, from among the Macmillan trade publishers including Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Feiwel and Friends, Henry Holt and Company, Picador, Roaring Brook Press, Square Fish, St. Martin's Press, and Tor Books, and it acquires titles from outside publishers as well.
For more information, contact Peter Miller, PMA Literary & Film Management, Inc. at 212.929.1222 or
