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Tag Archive: publishing industry

From Virgin Books editor Adam Nevill:

"I am now embarking upon the ambitious task of publishing horror fiction as a mainstream publishing concern again in the UK. My goal is too create a more mature focus - horror with style and originality. Fresh and edgy contemporary fiction marketed at a more sophisticated readership than purely the traditional adolescent male demographic.

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The editorial duo behind UK independent press Dog Horn Publishing, have been in touch to tell us about the relaunch of the press and the debut publication, at the end of January, of their brand new magazine title Polluto.

Adam Lowe and Liam Keogh tell us: "Dog Horn Publishing is a UK-based, trendsetting publisher of new and innovative fiction in quality, hand-designed limited editions, set to explode as it moves from publishing one novel a year to a packed schedule of fresh books and magazines.

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We've been alerted to the launch of a new line of manga titles from UK-based publisher Dimensional Manga in February 2008. Their press release tells us that "Dimensional Manga specialises in producing manga for worldwide audiences.

"Its first title is Demon Prince: Children of Gaia (the first of a 14-part series). Volume #1 is scheduled for release in February 2008. It will be distributed by Diamond Comic Distributors and has appeared in December '07 issue of Diamond Previews (Page 3)."

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This just in from Little, Brown, UK, parent company of leading UK genre imprint Orbit Books: "The Little, Brown Book Group is pleased to announce that, with effect from January 1st 2008, its Hachette Audio imprint (formerly Time Warner Audio) will be rebranded Hachette Digital.

"Hachette Digital will be run jointly by David Shelley and George Walkley reporting to Ursula Mackenzie, Little, Brown CEO and Publisher. They will cover Little, Brown’s audio publishing and e-books, with responsibility for general digital strategy and on-line initiatives, in conjunction with the Little, Brown marketing team.

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Last month saw the launch of a new promotion by Gollancz Books here in the UK: their Future Classics range. They've re-packaged eight current titles by some of the biggest names on their list - Stephen Baxter, Greg Bear, Greg Egan, Paul J. McAuley, Richard Morgan, Christopher Priest, Alastair Reynolds and Dan Simmons - with all-new cover art.

The new covers are certainly impressive. All eight are included in the article below, but to be honest the jpeg images really don't do them justice at all. For instance, Paul McAuley's Fairyland is printed with an iridescent ink, giving the patterning a holographic feel, Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space has a semi-mirrored finish with an embossed pattern, and the raised patterning on Stephen Baxter's Evolution cover is actually felt-textured.

The new designs are only intended to run for the duration of the promotion and then while stocks last; the revamped imagery won't be replacing the books' current covers in the long-run, and Gollancz won't be extending the concepts for any of the other titles in the relevant authors' series. Intrigued by the thinking behind the stand-alone concept, we sent an email to Gollancz editorial director Simon Spanton and asked him a few questions about the Future Classics.

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George Walkley, business manager at Orbit Books UK has been in touch to tell us about a brand new UK distribution deal: "Little, Brown Book Group [Orbit UK's parent company] is delighted to announce that it has reached an agreement with US sister company Hachette Book Group USA to distribute their Yen Press manga list in the UK."

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Following last week's news of a bit of a shake-up and re-organisation at the Orion Book Group, both Stephane Marsan of top-notch French genre publisher Bragelonne and fantasy author Joe Abercrombie have been in touch to let us know that a certain Ms Gillian Redfearn has been promoted to editor following the acquisition of sufficient power-up tokens and having defeated the boss on level 12 as a just reward for her incredibly hard work at Gollancz Books.

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Freshly posted over on the Penguin Books UK blog is news that the publisher is planning to host a series of activities within the virtual environs of Second Life to promote Spook Country [Amazon], the new novel by one of the founding fathers of Cyberpunk, William Gibson.

Spook Country is a modern-era thriller in which a freelance journalist is drawn (or is she actually being driven by her mysterious and possibly dangerous employers?) towards a mystery; a Cuban ex-pat is given orders that will change his life forever and a virtual-reality artist seems to be the eye of the growing storm.

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Short fiction writer Stephen J. Anderson dropped us an email to let us know about a new anthology project that includes one of his pieces. Falling From the Sky features 37 writers from around the world, half a dozen of them (including Stephen) from the UK.

The anthology of "grit-lit, urban, surrealist, raw, outsider, bizarro, fringe, experimental" fiction is edited by Craig Quackenbush and published by US publishing house Another Sky Press. They've developed a business model that seeks to take advantage of online promotion and distribution in order to create additional audience for its titles. They describe the model as a "pro-artist, pro-audience system" that they call 'neo-patronage'.

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Author Mike Ashley hit a problem when he was researching Gateways To Forever, the 'final' title in his book series about the history of SF magazines - the 1970's were just too complicated to squeeze into one volume…

"The seventies were a time that had to cope with considerable change," said Ashley. "The sf field itself was starting to feel the full effects of the New Wave revolution and though critics today believe that it had dissipated itself by the early seventies that is far from true. The longer term effects continued to develop through the seventies and would eventually feed into the cyberpunk movement of the eighties.

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Chaz Brenchley dropped us a line a couple of weeks back to let us know about a new market for original fantasy fiction that's being launched next year by Wizards of the Coast, the US-based publisher of game systems including Dungeons and Dragons and Magic: The Gathering.

We tracked down a press release with all the relevant info: "Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a premier publisher of fantasy fiction and a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc., announced today that beginning in 2008 the company will bring its legendary ability to discover new talent to bear on a line of novels independent of any of its established shared-world lines.

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British writer Simon Spurrier is probably best known as a regular in the pages of UK weekly science fiction comic 2000AD (Lobster Random, Bec and Kawl, Harry Kipling (Deceased), London Falling, Chiaroscuro among others) and for a string of shared-world novels for the likes of Black Flame, The Black Library and Abaddon Books.

From May 24th, Headline Books are publishing Contract, Spurrier's first novel set in a milieu entirely of his own creation. As we reported a couple of weeks ago, the release of the book will be backed by an online campaign that will see the novel released in via the website www.itsallaboutthemoney.co.uk.

We thought this would be an ideal opportunity to drop Simon Spurrier a line and ask him if he could tell us a bit more about the novel, and Headline's promotional campaign.

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According to a report on the BBC website yesterday evening, Hammer Horror films - an integral part of the British genre scene from the late '50s throughout the '60s - could be set for a big-screen comeback after the company was sold to Dutch investors headed by John de Mol.

The BBC is reporting that: "At least $50m (£25m) will be spent on new horror films after British company Hammer Film Productions was sold to Dutch consortium Cyrte Investments." A press release on the Hammer Films website confirms the sale, adding that "Spitfire Pictures founders Guy East and Nigel Sinclair will join the board as non-executive directors."

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Becky Fincham, publicist with Headline Books has been in touch with some information about a new marketing campaign they've launched to support the new novel by regular 2000AD writer Simon Spurrier, Contract.

Becky tells us: "Headline Publishing Group is proud to announce a bold move into online publishing. From 24th May, in six weekly instalments, Headline will publish Contract, by Simon Spurrier, online, to download for free from dedicated website www.itsallaboutthemoney.co.uk. Whilst Science Fiction imprints such as Orbit have published novels online in the past few years, Headline is the first mainstream commercial UK publisher to enter this field.

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Guy Gavriel Kay's new fantasy novel, Ysabel, has caused quite a stir since its release. It was Number One nationally in Canada for more than five weeks, it was on the National Post and CBC bestseller lists, and was reprinted twice in the US within three weeks of publication.

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John Jarrold, of John Jarrold Literary Agency fame, writes to tell us: "Caitlin Blasdell of Liza Dawson Associates in New York, representing the John Jarrold Literary Agency, has concluded a three-book deal with Fleetwood Robbins of Del Rey Books.

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Our latest round-up of shorter news items, including news of the Guy Gavriel Kay charity auction, the BFS's 2007 open nights, and a addition to the GoH list for World Horror Con.

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Penguin UK publicist Colin Brush, the man charged with bringing the single volume hardback edition of G.W. Dahlquist's Victorian mystery tale The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters to the attention of the Great British public, has come up with a novel way of doing so; although you'll have to be up early tomorrow morning to catch him at it...

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Penguin UK imprint Michael Joseph has unveiled The Malice Box Quest, a five-week, interactive, online scavenger hunt drawing on themes from the forthcoming thriller The Malice Box by Martin Langfield.

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Another quick selection of links to interesting, quirky and / or amusing stuff we've found, or have been sent; not necessarily news, but hopefully entertaining and informative enough in their own way...

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Gollancz publishers are launching a brand new imprint in January 2007 called Gollancz Romancz. Sexy supernatural stories are already big business in the US and Gollancz hoping to tap the same market in the UK...

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A quick selection of links to interesting, quirky and / or amusing stuff we've found, or have been sent; not necessarily news, but hopefully entertaining and informative enough in their own way...

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As reported widely last week (FP Blog, ICV2, others) the Little, Brown US division of publishing giant Hachette is considering the launch of a new line of graphic novels, and have hired Rich Johnson - former v-p of trade book sales at D.C. Comics - to work on the concept on a consultancy basis.

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Solaris Books, the original fiction imprint from Games Workshop's BL Publishing has announced the line-up of titles for their Spring 2007 launch.

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Veteran fantasy author Terry Brooks' UK publisher, Orbit Books, have launched a new website - www.terrybrooks.co.uk - to help promote the author's work in the UK. And what's more, they're running a mega-competition to mark the occasion.

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The results of the 2006 Hugo Awards were announced yesterday at a ceremony during L.A. Con IV, the 64th World Science Fiction Convention in Anaheim, California.

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