The Bookseller.com

8th September 2008

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Going into Orbit

02.03.07 Alison Bone

Orbit publishing director Tim Holman, who relocated to America last summer, is back in the UK on a flying visit to attend Hachette Livre UK's conference--and catch up with his team. Holman is heading up audacious expansion plans for Little, Brown Book Group's science fiction and fantasy imprint: he believes Orbit has the potential to replicate its UK success on the world stage, and is overseeing the establishment of the imprint in America and Australia.

Orbit USA will be part of Hachette Book Group USA's Little, Brown division under publisher Michael Pietsch, effectively taking the place of Hachette Book Group USA's existing science fiction and fantasy imprint Warner Aspect. Orbit USA launches its list in September, and the four-strong team is currently presenting that list to its sales force. The imprint will initially publish 40 titles a year, with many authors in common with the UK. It launches with 21 titles for the period from September to March.
 
"We wanted the list to represent the whole spectrum of science fiction and fantasy writing out there, in terms of edgier, more challenging writing, and also the fantastic storytelling talents within fantasy," says Holman. "It's a mix of science fiction, fantasy and urban fantasy--also known as paranormal romance."

The Orbit name is already well known to the publishing and agent communities in the US, says Holman, because many of the authors Orbit UK signs up are American: "We're taking advantage of the fact that a lot of work usually needs to be done to establish the profile of a new imprint; a certain amount of the groundwork was already there."

Fierce competition
Orbit USA will be competing with St Martin's Press' market-leading Tor, Random House's Del Ray and Penguin's Rok and Ace. Holman hopes to "grow the US science fiction and fantasy market rather than take market share from competitors". He estimates that science fiction and fantasy accounts for about 10% of the total US fiction market—and if Orbit can take a share of the science fiction and fantasy market correlating to Hachette Book Group USA's share of the total fiction market, "we would be one of the top science fiction and fantasy publishers in the US".

But Holman acknowledges that, at first, this is unrealistic. "Science fiction and fantasy remains a backlist driven area for the foreseeable future, and we’re launching a new imprint without backlist and with new authors. It will take a while to establish our readership, and we're unlikely to have substantial market share for our immediate launch."

He believes that US publishing's current focus on urban fantasy, or paranormal romance, means there is a gap in the market for new, more traditional science fiction and fantasy authors. "When there are new science fiction and fantasy authors, there is an awful lot of interest in them, because there are relatively few new science fiction and fantasy authors being launched. There are a lot of very passionate science fiction and fantasy readers out there, and I see an opportunity for us."

Orbit will use its new international reach to co-ordinate publication dates, packaging and editorial direction for authors on both sides of the Atlantic. Marketing and publicity will be global, with Orbit planning to work with blogs, LiveJournals, websites and fanzines that have worldwide reach. "We can come up with genuinely joined-up plans," says Holman. "We don't have to have world rights, but we do see very significant advantages in publishing authors on both sides of the Atlantic under the same imprint."

George Walkley, Orbit UK business manager, will work closely with his US counterpart Alex Lencicki on marketing and publicity. "There are lots of points of similarity between the markets," he says. "The American market is significantly bigger in terms of numbers, but the sorts of websites we're marketing to are very similar. In science fiction and fantasy, a lot of conversation about the books happens online, as the readers and opinion-formers are always online. We aim to fit into that conversation and without the internet I doubt we could do this."

The science fiction and fantasy genre, says Holman, is ideally suited to a global stage. "Science fiction and fantasy bestseller lists across the world tend to be very similar--I think it's because there are few potentially off-putting local settings or references in the books, because they are frequently set in other worlds." He points to perennial world chart-toppers Robert Jordan, Terry Brooks, Tad Williams and David Eddings.

Moving Down under
Orbit Australia will form part of Hachette Livre Australia. The imprint is at a less advanced stage than Orbit USA; Orbit's Australian distribution and marketing has just moved to Hachette from Penguin, and the changes are still being sorted out. An editor will be appointed to manage local Australian publishing, and the team is keen to tackle HarperCollins imprint Voyager's dominance within the market.

"Australia and New Zealand are very strong areas for science fiction and fantasy sales," says Holman. "We're quite aware of the fact that HarperCollins, with its local publishing with Voyager, has a very strong presence, and it makes a great deal of sense to try to establish a local Orbit presence in Australia."

"It should be a great challenge," adds Orbit UK editorial director Darren Nash. He points out that, as Orbit titles have been distributed in Australia for some time, "Orbit already has a name there, and a very high recognition factor".

In the UK, meanwhile, the team of five headed up by Nash is fresh from a record year. Its share of the science fiction and fantasy market in 2006 was 20% through Nielsen Bookscan, almost double that of any other genre imprint. And Holman claims that, overall, Hachette Livre UK accounts for 35% of the UK's science fiction and fantasy market.

"[Orbit's] market share has almost doubled over the past five years, and we have exciting plans for growth over the coming years," he concludes. "Our commitment to launching new authors and publishing for the widest possible readership both within the existing genre readership and without is a strategy that is clearly working."

US Flagship Feature Tom Holman Alison Bone Orbit