Comments on: Imprint Blight in American Book Publishing

By: 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom

1minutebookreviewswordpresscom — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 03:03:03 +0000

Hi, Sarah,
Thanks for asking that. “Imprint” is publishing jargon that I probably should have explained.

Hachette Group is not an imprint of Little, Brown. It is a conglomerate that is the parent company of the formerly independent Little, Brown, which was bought by Hachette.

But Little, Brown does have imprints or subdivisions. One is Little, Brown Young Readers, its children’s imprint. Just about every major company has a children’s imprint.

I don’t think Little, Brown has any imprints named for editors. But so many companies have those now that it might be just a matter of time before it does.

All of this can get confusing at times even for people who cover publishing. When I was at the Plain Dealer, Random House had 41 imprints (including Knopf, Ballantine and others), and at any given time, I might have been able to name, say, 25 of them. RH probably has at least as many now. So I really appreciate your giving me an opportunity to clarify this.
Jan

By: sarahsk

sarahsk — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 23:12:12 +0000

I never really understood what imprints were until reading this. Is Hachette Book Group at Little, Brown an example of an imprint, or am I still apparently confused? Thanks for the info.

By: 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom

1minutebookreviewswordpresscom — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 06:12:37 +0000

In the UK editors or publishers seem to go straight to forming their own firms, like Jonathan Cape, instead of getting imprints at others’ firms. But I’m not sure whether this has to do with the smaller scale of the firms or with a differences in the national character (British reticence versus American self-aggrandizement). Won’t it be interesting to see if this trend crosses the Pond?

About the checks-and-balances: It’s hard to generalize, because each imprint is different. But editors at American firms, especially lower level editors, typically have to rally in-house support for books they want to buy. By contrast, an editor whose name appears on an imprint should be able to buy whatever he or she wants as long as it’s within the budget for the imprint.

By: Andrew Blackman

Andrew Blackman — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 00:53:24 +0000

Interesting story. I don’t think we have this phenomenon in the UK. Different imprints would mostly just be the names of the various grand old defunct publishing houses that have been gobbled up by the larger conglomerate. Don’t think there are any editors with their own imprints.

As you say, should be good in theory, but it doesn’t seem to have worked out too well in those examples at least. I’d always assumed they’d have the same policies and editorial standards though – didn’t realise they’d have less checks and balances. Definitely food for thought – thanks for posting.