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Casemate Group has had a long-standing involvement in Celtic Publishing, and with the recent launch of their new Supadu site, Celtic Books, we spoke to Curtis Key (Group VP, Business Development of Casemate Group) about Casemate’s history and relationship with Celtic publishing. 

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Casemate’s headquarters are located in Havertown, Pennsylvania, which is known as the Welsh Tract because it was settled by largely Welsh-speaking Quakers. Havertown now has one of the highest percentages of Irish population in municipalities nationwide. Casemate started as a leading distributor of European publishers of military history and saw the opportunity to partner with Celtic publishers to reach the vibrant U.S. market. They have now become the largest distributor of Celtic Publishers in North America and distribute contemporary Celtic works into both American Celtic communities and the general book trade. Through the distribution of these Celtic books, Casemate feel they are connecting the Celtic diaspora with their ancestral home. 

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Sales of Celtic literature have been successful both online and in-store for Casemate. They use wholesalers such as Ingram and Amazon to distribute their books globally but also distribute through a number of independent bookshops and Irish gift shops which promote Irish culture. Casemate also distributes eBooks with some titles even featuring both English and the original Celtic languages.

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Casemate has a diverse list when it comes to Celtic publishing, distributing both Celtic history and Celtic fiction books. Their subjects vary from history, to religion, to children’s books and to the arts. Their most successful titles tend to be on history, contemporary affairs and cooking.

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Celtic Books encompasses Irish, Scottish and Welsh literature. They are currently working with an independent Scottish publisher, Birlinn, who have been a wonderful success story in the US. Casemate distributed their military history books for years and have now taken on their entire list. Birlinn has a very vibrant publishing programme and stay true to the term ‘Celtic’. 

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‍Celtic Books is one of nine new eCommerce websites for the Casemate Group built by Supadu: Casemate Publishing, Oxbow Books, Casemate Academic, Casemate Group, Casemate IPM, Casemate Publishers, Celtic Books, Pen and Sword Books and War Corner. The nine sites are all built on WordPress, using Supadu’s University Press Theme with some customisations. These websites are all ONIX and eCommerce-driven by Supadu's Supafolio API, except for Casemate Group which is a static site about the company.