Those In Big Houses ...
It would be interesting to know how publishers came to use the term 'House'. It is hard to refer to the companies below as houses. Or even McMansions. Much better would be Industrial Entertainment Distribution Centers.
I've been doing some research. According to the February, 2007 issue of Locus Magazine, the six uber-corps below published 60% of all SF/F/H in the United States in 2006. This surprised me. I thought it would be a higher percentage by fewer multinationals.
The list below is not comprehensive. It does focus on adult trade science fiction publishers. Links, names, and ownerships are subject to immediate change (half of what I read in the 2008 Writer's Market was already obsolete). The corporate trees may reflect distributors, subsidiaries, imprints, or brands. So, take it all with a grain of salt.
I've been doing some research. According to the February, 2007 issue of Locus Magazine, the six uber-corps below published 60% of all SF/F/H in the United States in 2006. This surprised me. I thought it would be a higher percentage by fewer multinationals.
The list below is not comprehensive. It does focus on adult trade science fiction publishers. Links, names, and ownerships are subject to immediate change (half of what I read in the 2008 Writer's Market was already obsolete). The corporate trees may reflect distributors, subsidiaries, imprints, or brands. So, take it all with a grain of salt.
- Pearson
- Penguin Group
- New American Library
- ROC
No unsolicited manuscripts (MSS) accepted, although if one digs hard enough, these guidelines can be found, which list a word count range of 75 - 125k. - ACE Science Fiction and Fantasy
No unsolicited MSS. - DAW Books
Guidelines allow for unsolicited MSS of 80k + words. - G. B. Putnam
No unsolicited MSS. Only has best seller authors (e.g. William Gibson). - Bertelsmann AG
- Random House
No unsolicited MSS. - Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck
- Macmillan
- St. Martin's
No unsolicited MSS. - TOR/Forge
Guidelines do not list a minimum word count. - CBS Corporation
- Simon and Schuster, Inc.
No unsolicited MSS. - Baen Books
Guidelines request word counts of 100 - 130k. - Lagardere
- Hachette Book Group (formerly Time/Warner)
- Orbit Books
No unsolicited MSS. - Newscorp
- Harper Collins
No unsolicited MSS. - EOS
posted by Todd Wheeler at 10/19/2007 12:26:00 PM
4 Comments:
Strange, given Bertelsmann's control of the music business, I expected more out of them in book publishing.
The Science Fiction Book Club is in the Bertelsmann compound as well. Added together, the companies under Bertelsmann published the highest number of titles in 2006.
I didn't include it as SFBC doesn't seem to publish their own authors. Could be wrong there.
Research looking good, Todd. Hope it pays off.
Thanks Camille. It has in several ways.
While flipping through the Locus magazines, archived at a not too distant library, I felt much more at ease than I had 7 months ago when I had done the same. Now the different names, faces, brands, terms, and lingo are familiar. It's as if classes in a foreign language are paying off.
Or more appropriately, it's like being in a new job for six months. The culture which seemed strange and exotic during those interviews is now familiar. Co-workers who seemed to go off and have a much better time at lunch without me, now invite me along and I decline because I'd rather lunch with the other group than those twits.
Or something like that.
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