the gatekeepers
Johan Larson
novels that are published every year in the US? A dozen or so, is it?
Johan Larson
Andrew Wheeler
>
> How large is the group of editors who together pick most of the SF/F
> novels that are published every year in the US? A dozen or so, is it?
For novel-length fiction published by large houses, in the US, you've got:
Ace/Roc -- about four, not counting assistants
Baen -- two or three, depending
Bantam Spectra -- two editors I know of, possibly one or two more lurking
DAW -- just two editors, I think
Del Rey -- three editors of prose-type books, I think (plus manga people)
Eos -- at least two editors, possibly more
Night Shade -- two
Orbit -- three editors
Pyr -- one
Tor -- I can think of nearly a dozen myself, so call it eighteen or so
to be safe
That doesn't count the two or three at Golden Grphyon, the one or two at
Tachyon, the distributed consciousness that is NESFA Press, whoevever
does Arkham House now, our own John Pelan under his various imprints,
whoever is buying classic SFF at University of Nebraska/Bison Press or
Overlook, the two or three editors at Solaris (since I believe they're
headquartered in the UK), and a couple of other small presses I won't
mention individually to hide the fact that I'm forgetting who else is
out there.
That also doesn't count anyone publishing SFF for young adults -- add at
least a dozen more, but I really don't know how many -- or any editors
who primarily do "paranormal romances" or other cross-over works. It
also doesn't count Jaime Levine, editor of Jacqueline Carey, Mike Carey,
and Carrie Vaughn, since she doesn't work for an identifiable SFF line
any more. It also doesn't count the editors of Steven King, Joe Hill, or
Stephen R. Donaldson.
So that's close to three dozen people who primarily acquire genre stuff
for big houses, and at least as many more who acquire books with genre elements.
--
Andrew Wheeler: Professional Editor, Amateur Wise-Acre
--
Personal blog: http://antickmusings.blogspot.com
SFBC blog: http://thebookblogger.com/sfbc
Spare time: rare
Johan Larson
> Johan Larson wrote:
>
> > How large is the group of editors who together pick most of the SF/F
> > novels that are published every year in the US? A dozen or so, is it?
>
> For novel-length fiction published by large houses, in the US, you've got:
>
> Ace/Roc -- about four, not counting assistants
> Baen -- two or three, depending
> Bantam Spectra -- two editors I know of, possibly one or two more lurking
> DAW -- just two editors, I think
> Del Rey -- three editors of prose-type books, I think (plus manga people)
> Eos -- at least two editors, possibly more
> Night Shade -- two
> Orbit -- three editors
> Pyr -- one
> Tor -- I can think of nearly a dozen myself, so call it eighteen or so
> to be safe
> So that's close to three dozen people who primarily acquire genre stuff
> for big houses, and at least as many more who acquire books with genre elements.
Thanks for the info, Andy.
I'm looking at that list, and while I recognize all the company names,
they are strangely undifferentiated. Baen and Night Shade have
identities--I know what typical books for each are like--but all the
rest are just sort of _there_. Did the execs who run these companies
forget everything they learned about branding when the left biz
school?
Johan Larson
Andrew Wheeler
I don't think lines are generally supposed to be that distinctive; even
the ones with strong identities do a lots of books that don't quite fit
that stereotype. (Baen, for example, is known for military SF, but also
does a lot of classics, and a fair bit of fantasy.)
Peter D. Tillman
Johan Larson <johan....@comcast.net> wrote:
> On May 21, 4:23 pm, Andrew Wheeler <acwhe...@optonline.net> wrote:
> > Johan Larson wrote:
> >
> > > How large is the group of editors who together pick most of the SF/F
> > > novels that are published every year in the US? A dozen or so, is it?
> >
> > For novel-length fiction published by large houses, in the US, you've got:
> >
> > Ace/Roc -- about four, not counting assistants
> > Baen -- two or three, depending
> > Bantam Spectra -- two editors I know of, possibly one or two more lurking
> > DAW -- just two editors, I think
> > Del Rey -- three editors of prose-type books, I think (plus manga people)
> > Eos -- at least two editors, possibly more
> > Night Shade -- two
> > Orbit -- three editors
> > Pyr -- one
> > Tor -- I can think of nearly a dozen myself, so call it eighteen or so
> > to be safe
> [snip]
> > So that's close to three dozen people who primarily acquire genre stuff
> > for big houses, and at least as many more who acquire books with genre
> > elements.
>
> Thanks for the info, Andy.
Here's the Locus list for who edited what in 2006:
http://www.locusmag.com/2006/Monitor/DirectoryBookEditors.html
Happy reading--
Pete Tillman
Peter D. Tillman
<Tillman-5F1471...@sn-radius.vsrv-sjc.supernews.net>,
Since I got sucked in, here are the heavy hitters for 2006
Editor Novels edited, 2006
------ ------------------
Lou Anders, Pyr 16 I. McDonald, Roberson,
S. Williams
Jennifer Brehl, HarperCollins Eos 8 Morrow, Gaiman, Bradbury
Ginjer Buchanan, Ace/Roc/Berkley 19 McDevitt, Shinn, Stirling
Diana Gill, HarperCollins Eos 18 Cherryh, Traviss,
K. Harrison
Anne Groell, Bantam Spectra 20 E. Bear, Kushner, GRR Martin
Marty Halpern, Night Shade 9 Stross, L. Williams, Rickert
& Golden Gryphon
David Hartwell, Tor 21 K. Baker, M. Flynn, P. Park,
Rucker, Stross, P. Watts....
Betsy Mitchell, Ballantine Del Rey 8 P. Hamilton, N. Novak,
T. Brooks
Darren Nash, Orbit/Atom 10 Canavan, L. Hamilton, Stross
Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Tor 12 Barnes, Goodkind, Walton
Liz Scheier, Roc 10 E. Bear, R. Caine
Shelley Shapiro, Ballantine Del Rey 10 McCaffrey + 6 Star Wars
Anne Sowars, Roc 21 Butcher, S. Monette
Juliet Ulman, Bantam Spectra 12 Grimwood, Robson, VanderMeer
[Note: Baen doesn't identify editors]
Woof. Deep enough!
Happy reading--
Pete Tillman
jpe...@qwest.net
>
> - Show quoted text -
Well, I'll have to recuse myself, as we haven't published any SF
*novels* at Darkside Press. In the hopper we have collections
forthcoming (multiple volumes indicated where applicable) by the
following authors:
Clifford D. Simak (8)
William F. Temple (1)
Daniel F. Galouye (5)
Cleve Cartmill (4)
John Wyndham (1)
Fritz Leiber (2)
I hope that there's a discernable pattern there, (other than "books
John wants for his collection that he's afraid no one else will get
around to publishing"). ;-)
Odd you mention Night Shade... A conversation that I had with Jason
Williams included his comment (which I'm paraphrasing) "People will
collect your imprints because they have a distinct identity. No one's
ever going to collect Night Shade as an imprint because we'll do so
many different types of books..."
While on one hand I see where he's coming from, I think that Jason
underestimates the brand of quality that Night Shade has developed. I
don't purposefully collect Night Shade as an imprint, but I do buy an
awful lot of their titles and I am extremely likely to check out an
author that I'm unfamiliar with if said author gets published by Night
Shade. Same holds true for Golden Gryphon.
Of course, with a small imprint, it can be pretty easy to identify the
editorial tastes... I can't imagine that there are too many people
that collect TOR or ACE as imprints...
Cheers,
John
Anthony Nance
> On May 21, 7:12 pm, Johan Larson <johan.lar...@comcast.net> wrote:
>>
>> Thanks for the info, Andy.
>>
>> I'm looking at that list, and while I recognize all the company names, they are strangely undifferentiated. Baen and Night Shade have identities--I know what typical books for each are like--but all the rest are just sort of _there_. Did the execs who run these companies
>> forget everything they learned about branding when the left biz school?
>>
>> Johan Larson- Hide quoted text -
>>
>> - Show quoted text -
>
>
> Well, I'll have to recuse myself, as we haven't published any SF
> *novels* at Darkside Press. In the hopper we have collections
> forthcoming (multiple volumes indicated where applicable) by the
> following authors:
>
> Clifford D. Simak (8)
> William F. Temple (1)
> Daniel F. Galouye (5)
> Cleve Cartmill (4)
> John Wyndham (1)
> Fritz Leiber (2)
Ooh! Ooh! Can you tell say more about the Wyndham and Leiber please?
- Tony
Charlie Stross
as <Til...@toast.net_DIESPAMMERSDIE> declared:
>> Here's the Locus list for who edited what in 2006:
>>
>> http://www.locusmag.com/2006/Monitor/DirectoryBookEditors.html
>>
>
> Since I got sucked in, here are the heavy hitters for 2006
>
>
> Editor Novels edited, 2006
> ------ ------------------
> Lou Anders, Pyr 16 I. McDonald, Roberson,
> S. Williams
>
> Jennifer Brehl, HarperCollins Eos 8 Morrow, Gaiman, Bradbury
>
> Ginjer Buchanan, Ace/Roc/Berkley 19 McDevitt, Shinn, Stirling
(Also my editor.)
...
> Darren Nash, Orbit/Atom 10 Canavan, L. Hamilton, Stross
Darren is Orbit UK. Orbit US is Tim Holman.
...
And then there's Gary Turner, Golden Gryphon; and Marty Halpern,
ex-Golden Gryphon, who edited me.
Just thought I ought to point out that this is somewhat incomplete.
Trying to come up with a complete list is somewhat difficult.
-- Charlie