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October 1-15, 2004 Edition

Ripley Entertainment

to Independently

Publish Own Books

NEW YORK,NY/09/27/04—According to Publishers Weekly, Ripley Entertainment, famous publisher of Robert Ripley’s Believe-It-or-Not series plans to publish several books of its own, a departure from its usual licensing through another publisher. The company, which owns nearly a dozen museums and has a TV program licensed to Sony, will release a book featuring the series’ most unbelievable moments. An initial run of 525,000 has already sold out worldwide, and the title will be featured on Good Morning America.

The company also plans to publish a second book called Planet Eccentric in 2005.

Ripley has traditionally licensed its books to Scholastic, and says it will continue to do so, according to Norm Deska, executive vice president of intellectual property. But Ripley simply wanted a larger profile for the two titles it is introducing independently.