Little, Brown & Co. has a new imprint

[B.R.Stateham]

Little, Brown & Co has a new imprint called Mulholland Books.  They're going to specilaize in any form of suspese/detective literature and its sub genres.  They're brand spanking new.  Take a look at'em here.

 

http://www.mulhollandbooks.com

[Dave Zeltserman]

The first book they're publishing is by Marcia Clark (or at least has her name as the author). That should tell you everything you need to know about this new imprint.

[Dave Zeltserman]

that's only if you can call a prosecutor who proved inept at a murder trial a celebrity. what a country we live in.

[Neil Nyren]

Come on, fellas. These guys are rivals of mine, so I suppose I shouldn't be standing up for them, but their first list also includes writers like Lawrence Block, Mark Billingham, Michael Robotham, and Duane Swierczynski. Let's not just go tarring them with the "celebrity" brush.

[Dave Zeltserman]

It is what it is, Neil. This is their first book. The label fits.

[Neil Nyren]

Sorry, Dave, but you're wrong. It's not "what it is." I could do without Marcia Clark myself, but that's only one book amongst a lot of solid, interesting, worthwhile crime writers. They don't deserve to be dismissed so casually, and neither does the imprint that wants to publish them.

[Dave Zeltserman]

Neil, I'll respectfully disagree. If I write more I'll only get myself in trouble, but I'd be happy to continue this privately. In any case, I'm dismissing them.

[Sandra Ruttan]

The editor, John Schoenfelder, is fantastic. One of the most knowledgeable, well-read guys in the business, and he reads well beyond the genre too.

I expect Mulholland will become its own brand, and will be seen as a leader in the genre. This probably won't be where you'll see a lot of authors debut; this is where the cream of the crop will rise to.

[Jon Loomis]

The more the merrier, if you ask me. It's never a bad thing to have another decent imprint around, especially when it's time to shop the next project.

[I. J. Parker]

I don't know. It sounds as if it specializes in hard-boiled mysteries. That leaves me out in the cold, along with many, many other authors.

[Beth Groundwater]

I'm intrigued by their statement, "With a focus on online community building, internet marketing and authentic connections between authors, readers and publisher, Mulholland Books will be at the center of a web of suspense." It sounds like they plan to focus on on-line promotion versus traditional methods. It will be interesting to see how their marketing strategy develops, and it may be one that the rest of us can emulate.

[John McFetridge]

"... online community building..." is the buzzword of the moment. The guy who started Soft Skull Press is starting another venture called "Cursor" which he says somehow mixes e-books with online communities and social networking. It all sounds vague and as if people are looking at, well, frankly, places like Crimepsace as places to sell books. Online "writing groups" and Facebook pages with lots of fans.

Take a look at Declan Burke's blog today.

I like John Schoenfelder (full discloser, he was my editor at St. Martins before he left to take this job) so I really hope this goes well. I think marketing books is even harder to do than finding good books to publish.

[Dave Zeltserman]

John, I saw the presentation you posted from the ex founder of Soft Skull. Conceptually it's interesting what he was proposing (even though it was a bit vague)--the way I took it was a publishing house would basically sell access to their fans--for something that amounts to a membership fee they'd get books, interviews, articles, extra material, etc. At least that's how I took it. It will be interesting to see if someone can make that work--but I think that might be the future of all this, but not for many years.