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Life after Patterson

26.06.07 Alison Bone

Headline was already committed to expanding its presence in the crime and thriller market when its rival Random House Group poached one of its leading authors, James Patterson, last year. Six months earlier, in December 2005, Headline had appointed Vicki Mellor, a lifelong crime and thriller writing addict, as a specialist editor.

But the loss of the thriller giant--the sum paid by Random gave "a whole new meaning to the phrase 'multi-million-pound deal'", a rival publisher said at the time--was undoubtedly a blow to Headline. However, Kerr MacRae, Headline deputy m.d., is unbowed. "Crime and thrillers are ripe for reinvention," he says. "We were doing this anyway, but [Patterson's departure] gave us the opportunity to take on more authors at a level to grow them."

Bold claims

What follows is a bold claim, even for Headline: the publisher is promising that its four new American thriller authors—Scott Frost, Karen Rose, Brian Freeman and Patrick Quinlan--will put £12m through booksellers' tills during the next two years. Headline has committed to a "substantial" marketing spend in its quest to turn them into "megabrands".

Creating such brands is something Headline has experience of, thanks to 10 years spent publishing Patterson. "It's all about the firepower, the marketing power, of Headline as a publisher," MacRae says. "We don't listen to people who say it can't be done—the gatekeepers who thought three [new Pattersons] a year was outrageous, let alone five." Patterson saw sales through Nielsen BookScan of £10m in 2006.

"This is all about reinforcing the brand--it doesn't matter how many you do, as long as you are providing the same quality of writing," MacRae says. "What we recognise is that there are people who enjoy thrillers, who hook into one or two authors and wait until the next one comes along. We will try hard to make people look at these new authors and, when they do, give them more product to keep them happy."

Each of the four US authors newly acquired by Headline will launch with at least two titles in the first year—a huge plus for a publisher that wants to build recognition. "This is helpful when we want to take them to brand status from a standing start," MacRae says. All the authors have a "unique element to their writing editorially", and each is also committed to promoting in the UK.

Four Americans

Headline bought seven titles from Karen Rose, whose "unique selling point" is her cast of revolving characters. Count to Ten is out this month, I'm Watching You comes in October, and Die for Me is due in January.

"In the US, Karen is very much marketed as a romantic suspense writer, but these are gritty commercial thrillers," Vicki Mellor says. "She writes about a group of characters and focuses in on them, so it's not a series with one main character. A reader can start with any book and will always be able to work out what's going on."

Four thrillers are under contract from Brian Freeman, featuring detective Jonathan Stride. Stripped, set in Las Vegas, was out in May; Immoral, set in Minnesota, will be reissued in July; and Stalked is out next April.

Mellor pitches Scott Frost, whose Never Fear was published in January (Run the Risk is out in August), as a "classic crime writer in the LA noir tradition". He writes from a woman's point of view, which "instantly appealed".

Patrick Quinlan's Smoked, meanwhile, was published in January, and The Takedown is due in April 2008. Mellor says: "He does the whole New York thing brilliantly. He's a really classy writer and these are not average detective stories. They are quite Elmore Leonardy."

Zero to 100,000 in a year

Headline's strategy, which was presented to key accounts in June, will see it moving the authors from £6.99 paperback originals in their first year of publication into hardback in their second. "This year it's all about rapidly building the paperback sales," says James Horobin, Headline sales director. He is aiming to accelerate sales from nought to 100,000 copies in the first year. "In year two we will start to establish and develop a hardback sale," he says.

Horobin is adamant that Headline won't take anything for granted. "We know that experience and confidence aren't enough on their own to build bestsellers. We need the best creative there is for both packaging and campaigning, and then a serious amount of cash to mount the high-frequency campaigns to reach the audience. I'm pleased to say we have all those things."

He adds: "The creation of new author brands is the most exciting and challenging task in fiction publishing, and when you succeed it's the most rewarding."

Alison Bone headline Random House James Patterson Crime Fiction

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