BRIO, Italian for “with spirit or energy,” is an American contract book publisher founded in 2003 by John Marino and William Reynolds.

Originally a printing company called BRIOprint, the name was changed to BRIO in May 2008 when the company started working in book publishing. The company assists independent, unsigned authors self-publish their books by providing non-traditional book marketing, public relations, and design services via à la carte services.


History:

John Marino and William Reynolds founded the company in March 3rd, 2003 as Bee-Eater, Printing Made Simple. The company started in the back of a warehouse in St. Paul, Minnesota under the same roof as Reynolds Promotional Packaging, Reynolds’ father’s company. The founders originally created an online store that sold printing services such as business cards, letterhead, envelopes, brochures, posters, catalogs and magazines.

Bee-Eater was dissolved in August 2004 and the company emerged as BRIOprint with Roy Wetterstrom joining Marino and Williams as partial owner. The company operated in Minneapolis and began offering design in addition to its printing services.
In December 2006 John Marino and William Reynolds bought out Roy Wetterstrom. The company changed the name to BRIO in May 2008 and became a contract publisher. Its headquarters are in downtown Minneapolis. The first BRIO books were paperbacks and hardcovers printed in Minnesota. Today, BRIO prints over 500 titles every year and is wholly owned by the original founders.


Product:

Marketed as a contract publisher to help independent and previously published authors increase their royalties, BRIO offers a la carte publishing services to compete with traditional publishing companies. BRIO specializes in ghostwriting, book cover design and layout, printing, sales, marketing & public relations.

BRIO partners with companies such as Amazon and Alibris to distribute to over 25,000 sales channels for authors and small publishing companies. The company uses blogs to communicate with authors and avid readers, blog.brioprint.com and briobookclub.com.

The company prints softcover, hardcover and full color books using offset sheet-fed and web printing presses. The company also publishes e-books that can be sold and downloaded directly from the author’s website. Like similar companies, BRIO handles all genres with the exception of works containing sexist or racially discriminatory content. [1]


Controversy:

In 2004, the company encountered issues with the now defunct RAVEN Magazine. According to a press release issued by RAVEN, BRIO refused to print the magazine due to content that BRIO owners felt was not acceptable. Reportedly, thousands of librarians across the U.S. phoned BRIO to express concerns about the legality of the company’s refusal to print the magazine, although many speculated this to be fabricated, and the press release was revealed to be grossly exaggerated [3]. The issue was resolved when BRIO owner, John Marino, agreed to print the magazine due to contractual obligation. [2]


First Titles:

1.