Perseus Reorganizes; Carroll & Graf No More
You can read about the big publishing news story over at GalleyCat, but let me spell out what this means for the mystery world. With Carroll & Graf and Thunder's Mouth closing down effective this fall, a boatload of mystery titles will either be absorbed into other Perseus-owned imprints (unlikely) or acquired by Perseus distributed imprints, aka the 120-odd independent houses formerly distributed by Publishers Group West.
The latter option is possible, but since most of the 120 imprints weren't devoted to fiction, that leaves them out. And for those left, when their parent distributor sends a signal that fiction is less important, how much enthusiasm will they have for acquiring orphaned titles - especially mystery & suspense titles?
Remember, too, that many of Carroll & Graf's mystery titles were British imports that sold in small quantities to libraries. The likelihood of most of those getting picked up by other publishing houses is, shall we say, decidedly small.
It's another crappy day for independent-minded publishing.
I suppose that also means that fewer agents will take on fiction/mystery because there are fewer places for them to sell. So authors need to make decisions - do I hope to be the one in a million, do I write non-fiction, do I change careers, do I start my own press a la POD capabilities?
Posted by: Lyn LeJeune | May 10, 2007 at 04:20 PM
I was dismayed to read this news. Some of the most interesting new books in the mystery field have come from these two imprints. They will be missed.
Posted by: Terry Weyna | May 10, 2007 at 05:32 PM
It also means that they have dropped a very fine GLBT list.
Idjits.
Posted by: La Gringa | May 10, 2007 at 06:39 PM
Maybe trying too hard to find the silver lining here, but it sounds like an opportunity for an enterprising start-up publisher.
Posted by: The Novel Gobbler | May 11, 2007 at 01:03 AM
Or an opportunity for an existing publisher. Charles? Max? Might be just the time to diversify Hard Case a little.
Posted by: Bilbo Pepitone | May 11, 2007 at 07:19 AM
Having done a number of books over the years with Carroll & Graf (and being a longtime friend of Herman Graf), I'm very sorry to see the imprint go away. C&G did some outstanding books and deserved better after all these years.
I don't see how we could pick up the slack, though. I've got my hands full just publishing a book every month with a full-time staff of zero and profits barely sufficient to keep me from going into hock when I want to order a sandwich from the corner deli.
That said, I do not think it's likely that C&G's disappearance will, in and of itself, influence any agent to quit selling fiction or mysteries. The cumulative effect of multiple such shutterings of good markets might eventually have an erosive effect, but this one won't all by itself. There are still many, many places a strong mystery novel can be sold.
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Posted by: ayesha siddiqua | July 29, 2008 at 06:37 AM
Hi,
Our software company is starting online book portal shortly. We came to know that you have already tie up with some online portals. We have extracted information of your publications, the same we want to put in our website. If you give permission to us by e mail we will proceed further. After launching the website we will provide the user id and password to you for then and then updates. In this regard your kind cooperation is highly solicited. Awaiting for favourable response.
Waiting for your favourable reply.
MANAGING DIRECTOR
ROTONICS TECHNOLOGIES
HYDERBAD
INDIA.
PH: 91-40-27803186, 91-040-66174865
Email : info@rotonicstech.com, society100@rediffmail.com.
Posted by: ayesha siddiqua | July 29, 2008 at 06:56 AM