We’re Doing More Puzzles: USA Today Scores Branding Deals with Multiple Publishers

By Neal 

Has it really been 25 years since those blue-and-white newspaper vending machines started showing up on street corners? I feel old…but as least I’ll have plenty of USA Today-themed puzzle books to occupy me in my dotage, thanks to a new six-publisher branding project put together by the licensing firm Nancy Bailey & Associates. Andrews McMeel is just about ready to start publishing its puzzle books, with Sterling Publishing contributing crossword collections and a sudoku-a-day calendar in 2008. There’s also going to be a monthly sudoku magazine from MultiMedia Publishing, and a puzzle-a-day calendar from Mead Westvaco. The licensing venture isn’t just limited to puzzles, either: Nolo is putting together a series of legal and business guides, and Sports Publishing has plans for a 25th anniversary volume and a sports almanac.