Working with an imprint

[Danielle Wilson]

Hi!

I'm wondering if anyone has experience working with an imprint of a bigger publishing company. I currently run my own small publishing company (write and design my own book but am about to publish for another author) and I'm trying to learn about what imprint publishers do/how they run. I potentially want my company to become a smaller imprint but I really have no idea what that entails or how that changes the structure of what I'm currently doing.

Any help or insight is appreciated! Thank you in advance!!

-Danielle Wilson

[Vijaya]

Danielle, it's great that you are planning to publish others as a subset (imprint) of your own company. Since you are creating a separate imprint for others' books, you get to decide how to run it. I'm interested in this as well (for the future) so I'm eager to learn. I'm waiting for my husband to retire so that he can take care of the business end of things

From the author side, my novelty book, Ten Easter Eggs was published by Cartwheel, an imprint of Scholastic. All my contracts/royalty statements/etc. come from Scholastic but I'm quite certain that Cartwheel has its own editorial team that operates independently within Scholastic.

Lots of small publishers have separate imprints for the different types of books they publish. It definitely makes it easier for the reader to find the type of book he or she is looking for.

Here's an overview of imprints: https://www.tckpublishing.com/publishing-imprints/ and another article: https://blog.reedsy.com/what-is-an-imprint/#:~:text=Most%20imprints%20are%20created%20in%20one%20of%20the,buy%20their%20own%20ISBNs%2C%20or%20publish%20other%20authors.

Good luck!

[Ree]

Check out my publisher, Orange Blossom Publishing. I believe she started with a few of her own books and now has several categories and authors.

https://www.orangeblossombooks.com/

Ree

[HaroldU]

Historically, an imprint was defined by the name that appeared on a book's title page--the "imprint" of the publisher. As Vijaya said, imprints at larger companies tend to be defined by having a separate editorial and design team (and possibly a marketing person as well), while sharing that larger company's resources for production, distribution, sales, etc.

Sometimes the imprint name continues the name of a company that was bought and has been absorbed into the larger company. Sometimes you get an eponymous imprint--an imprint named after the well-known editor who established it. Sometimes the imprint's identity revolves around a particular genre or approach to publishing.

Since it's your company, you can set it up as you choose, with the structure and identity that works for you.

[Danielle Wilson]

Thank you all for your responses! Sorry it took me so long to get back to you, I couldn't remember the website that the discussion boards were on haha.

I will look into everything you all suggested!  I guess I should have explained better but I am trying to see what it would take to become an imprint of a larger publisher- I wasn't sure if they do some sort of a merger or if their imprints are all created within their own companies. As some have mentioned, the larger companies would have larger resources for production, sales, and distribution- which would be an awesome thing for me to not have to worry about!

I'll keep doing my research to see what it takes. Thank you again!

[Vijaya]

I totally misunderstood. The first step would be to research various publishers and see if they have a hole you could fill. And then suggest if they'd like to acquire your company as an imprint. Good luck!

[Debbie Vilardi]

I think you'd need a lot more sales and cache. Properties do get picked up, but they are things like Elf on a Shelf. Sales were phenomenal before they were bought/merged. It's just like any corporate merger. They have to believe it will get them the money back on what it costs and then some.

You need to build buzz and be written up in industry press. Watch Shark Tank to get an idea of what leads to an entrepreneur selling their company for a profit or merging with another. In fact, trying to get on that show might not hurt you.

[HaroldU]

As Debbie and Vijaya said, publishers buy up smaller companies and continue them as imprints within their corporate structure. If you read Publishers Weekly on a regular basis, you'll come across news stories about this from time to time.

[Danielle Wilson]

Funny you mention that Debbie, I actually did get selected to go a couple rounds in the application process with Shark Tank! Thank you all for your help! I was mostly wondering if we were even in a position to be discussing it with publishers and it sounds like we still have a ways to go.

Thank you!!