EL James’s entire backlist (print and ebook editions) will be distributed by Sourcebooks starting on April 1. A press release from Sourcebooks says that James will be a lead author in a new imprint that offers a joint publishing model to entrepreneurial women authors, offering them the benefit of existing retail relationships and distribution channels. EL James’s frontlist rights, audio rights, and large print rights remain with Penguin Random House, which holds a 45 percent stake in Sourcebooks.
The new Sourcebooks imprint will be focused on romance and adult fiction; it doesn’t have a name yet (but note disruptors in the URL). Is this a way for large publishers to take back some of the market share they’ve lost to romance and genre fiction authors who now self-publish? We’ll be watching.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
