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Amazon Publishing

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Amazon Publishing is Amazon.com's publishing unit.[1] It is composed of a number of imprints including AmazonEncore,[2] AmazonCrossing,[3] Montlake Romance,[4] Thomas & Mercer,[5] 47 North,[6] and Powered by Amazon. Additional imprints are planned.

List of imprints

Amazon Publishing imprints
Imprint Inaugural date Description Notes
AmazonEncore May 2009 Out-of-print or self-published books; New general books.
AmazonCrossing May 2010 Books in translation
Montlake Romance May 2011 Romance
Thomas & Mercer May 2011 Mysteries and thrillers
47North October 2011 Science fiction, fantasy, horror
The Domino Project December 2010Template:Numkey Founded by Seth Godin; short books by "thought leaders" A "Powered by Amazon" imprint. Godin decided to end the imprint in November 2011.[7]
New Harvest 2012 General adult titles Via Amazon Publishing's East Coast Group run by Larry Kirshbaum. New Harvest is distributed by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. See further info below.

Amazon Publishing history

In May 2009, Amazon launched AmazonEncore, the inaugural flagship general imprint.[8] It publishes titles that have gone out-of-print or self-published books with sales potential. The first book published under this imprint was Cayla Kluver's Legacy in August 2009.[9] Other early books published by AmazonEncore include Mercury Falls by Robert Kroese, Shaken by J.A. Konrath, The Grove by John Rector and ''A Scattered Life'' by Karen McQuestion.[10]

AmazonCrossing was announced in May 2010,[11] for translated works into English. The first translated books were the French-language novel The King of Kahel and the German-language novel The Hangman's Daughter which were released in November and December 2010, respectively.[12]

In May 2011, Amazon launched two genre-focused imprints, Montlake Romance, and Thomas & Mercer. Montlake Romance is an imprint for the romance genre; "Romance is one of our biggest and fastest growing categories, particularly among Kindle customers," said Jeff Belle, vice president of Amazon Publishing.[13] Thomas & Mercer is for mystery titles.[14]

Powered by Amazon is a self-publishing platform that allows the publication of a series of books under any imprint name.[15] For example in May 2011, Seth Godin launched The Domino Project, an imprint created to publish a series of manifestos.[15] It was the inaugural Powered by Amazon imprint project.[15] Godin decided to end the imprint in November 2011, the 12 previously published titles would still be sold at Amazon, but no new books would be published.[7]

In May 2011, it was announced Amazon had hired Laurence Kirshbaum, former CEO of Time Warner Book Group, to head a new general-interest imprint. The imprint name remains unknown but the first books are scheduled to be published in 2012.[16]

In October 2011, Amazon launched a science-fiction/fantasy/horror imprint called 47 North.[17]

In December 2011, Amazon Publishing acquired over 450 titles of Marshall Cavendish's US Children’s trade books business, Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books (MCCB).[18]

In January 2012, it was revealed that Amazon Publishing's New York publishing arm, called "Amazon Publishing's East Coast Group" (run by Larry Kirshbaum), has made a deal with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to sell books for them under a pseudonym imprint called New Harvest.[19] New Harvest will only include books from Amazon Publishing, and the books will have a New Harvest imprint on the spine.[19] This would allow Amazon to sell books at retailer Barnes & Noble, which otherwise had disallowed Amazon imprints in its stores.[19] Barnes & Noble however later announced it would not stock any Amazon imprints including New Harvest, a move mirrored by other book stores which have also banned Amazon imprints from their stores.[20][21] One of the inaugural titles published by New Harvest was Jeff, One Lonely Guy, by Jeff Ragsdale, released on March 20, 2012.[22][23]

In June 2012, Amazon purchased Avalon Books, a small 62-year old publisher that specializes in romance and mysteries with a back-list of around 3,000 titles.[24] The books will be published under Amazon’s imprints based in Seattle.[24]

In November 2012, it was announced that Laurence Kirshbaum's position would expand to include "editorial leadership for the Seattle and New York adult imprints, as well as Amazon Children's Publishing." [25] In addition it was announced that Amazon would be opening a new European publishing division, which will focus on "expanding the English-language audience through its English-language bookstores in the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, and Spain."[25] Vicky Griffith, formerly publisher of the Seattle imprints, will be the new EU publisher.

References

  1. ^ Amazon Publishing, official website.
  2. ^ AmazonEncore, official website
  3. ^ AmazonCrossing, official website.
  4. ^ Montlake Romance, official website.
  5. ^ Thomas & Mercer, official website.
  6. ^ 47 North, official website.
  7. ^ a b Seth Godin Ends the Domino Project, MediaBistro, November 29, 2011.
  8. ^ "Introducing AmazonEncore", Amazon Press Release, May 13, 2009
  9. ^ Minzesheimer, Bob (3 Feb 2010). "Amazon gives the self-published a second life". USA Today. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  10. ^ "AmazonEncore Announces Fall 2010 Publishing List". BusinessWire. 8 Jun 2010. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  11. ^ "Introducing AmazonCrossing", Amazon Press Release, May 18, 2010
  12. ^ "Amazon Announces a Second Publishing Imprint Focused on Translating Foreign-Language Books into English". Phx.corporate-ir.net. Retrieved 2011-08-04.
  13. ^ "Amazon Thrusts into Romance Publishing", PCMag, May 5, 2011.
  14. ^ "Amazon Starts Mystery Imprint Thomas & Mercer ", Publishers Weekly, May 18, 2011
  15. ^ a b c How many imprints does Amazon run?, Jenn Webb, O'Reilly, May 18, 2011.
  16. ^ Amazon Publishing Imprints, Chart created by Laura Hazard Owen, 11/1/2011. PaidContent.org
  17. ^ "Amazon Publishing Launches Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Imprint, 47North", Amazon press release, via Business Wire on DailyFinance.com, Oct 11, 2011
  18. ^ "Amazon Publishing to Acquire Marshall Cavendish US Children's Books Titles". Business Wire. 2011-12-06.
  19. ^ a b c "HMH in Deal with Amazon for Adult Titles", Jim Milliot and Judith Rosen, Publishers Weekly, Jan 24, 2012.
  20. ^ Dennis Loy Johnson, "Issuing a defiant statement, B&N joins indies in banning books published by Amazon", Melville House Publishing, February 1, 2012.
  21. ^ Dennis Loy Johnson, "Two more giant retailers join boycott of books published by Amazon", Melville House Publishing, February 5, 2012.
  22. ^ http://www.forbes.com/sites/gyro/2012/06/05/innovate-or-get-spanked-lessons-from-fifty-shades-of-grey/
  23. ^ Larry Kirshbaum Head of Amazon Publishing New York Imprint Speaks at Stonybrook Southampton College, April 16, 2012. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
  24. ^ a b Julia Bosman (June 4, 2012). "Amazon Buys Avalon Books, Publisher in Romance and Mysteries". New York Times. Retrieved June 4, 2012.
  25. ^ a b Staff writer (Nov 28, 2012). "Amazon Publishing to Expand in Europe, Kirshbaum Takes Larger U.S. Role". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved December 02, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
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