New Imprints

Last year it seemed all the naysayers were predicting the demise of the publishing industry in the face of digitisation. However, from where I’m sitting, they industry looks healthy with lots of new imprints popping up all over the place.

Angry Robot are launching their young adult imprint, Strange Chemistry, in September and there are plans for a crime imprint in 2013. Strange Chemistry is headed by ex-blogger Amanda Rutter and has already announced its first two acquisitions, Kim Curran’s Shift and Sean Cummings’ Poltergeeks. You can read an interview with Amanda at Civilian Reader.

Quercus, best known for their international crime fiction and Publisher of the Year in 2011, also have a newbie imprint on the scene. I don’t know when Jo Fletcher Books got going but it is another welcome addition to the speculative fiction scene, Jo having previously worked at SFF behemoth, Gollancz.

Then yesterday there was the exciting announcement of Bloomsbury’s Circus imprint. Even better, the launch book has a circus theme but there are several titles I am really looking forward to from their catalogue including Liz Jensen’s The Uninvited and Jane Rusbridge’s Rook.

A circus, like a square or an avenue, is, of course, a place. Bloomsbury Circus will be a place of fine writing from all over the world. There will be exciting debuts and brilliant new novels from established writers. There will be ambitious writing and high-wire acts, too. There will be much to entertain, amaze and enjoy. Roll up, roll up…

Are there any new imprints I’ve missed?

On Twitter: @strangechem | @JoFletcherBooks | @circusbooks