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Ian Fleming's James Bond novels will switch to a
different publisher this year with plans to
release print and
e-book editions this summer...
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Bond's New Publisher
16th March 2012
Out with the new, in with the old. The classic
James Bond novels are heading back to the same publishing organisation
that first released
007's literary adventures as the contract with Penguin expires.
Ian Fleming Publications have officially confirmed
a deal struck with Random House that will see Fleming's
novels republished
this summer as the film series celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Under the Vintage Books imprint, which is a sister to the original
Jonathan Cape imprint (both owned by Random House), the deal
includes print and e-book rights for the original fourteen Bond
novels and Fleming’s two non-fiction titles for the next
10 years in all English-language markets except the USA and Canada.
The
hand-over from Penguin takes place this April.
Corinne Turner, Managing Director of Ian Fleming Publications
Ltd said: "We are delighted to be reuniting James Bond with
his original publisher. This new deal, incorporating both print
and ebook formats, represents a significant step-change for Ian
Fleming and his work."
Richard Cable, Managing Director, Vintage Publishing, commented: "Ian
Fleming’s famous Secret Service agent 007 remains one of
the most iconic of all literary creations, and continues to thrill
new and existing readers alike. We are excited to welcome Ian
Fleming’s books to the Vintage list for the first time
and to reunite him with Jonathan Cape, the original publisher
of his work. We are hugely looking forward to working with IFPL
to relaunch the list in 2012, a year which marks the 50th anniversary
of the first James Bond film, Dr No, and sees a new 007 adventure
hit the big screen."
Above: James Bond creator Ian Fleming.
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Two series styles will be created for the fourteen books: one
under the Vintage paperback imprint and one in Vintage Classics.
This is the first time that an author’s entire fiction
backlist has been published under both imprints. The press release
added that the "publishing programme will be underpinned
by consumer insight to bring a new generation of readers to Ian
Fleming’s work and engage people who have recently discovered
the Bond brand through the films and computer
games," alluding
to plans to attract a younger audience to the back-catalog.
As MI6
reported last year, the existing licence with Penguin
looked unlikely to be renewed due to the disagreement over e-book
rights, which were not included in the original deal struck by
the popular publisher. Ian Fleming Publications released the
novels as e-books independently. According
to reports in 2010,
the Bond licence is worth £3m a year to IFP, but the backlist
only sells approximately 100,000 paper copies a year in the UK
and USA combined, making it an expensive prospect for any publisher.
Approximately 10% of the Bond book market in the US was electronic
in 2010, a share which is certainly much higher today. Random
House will have to market the books aggressively, make hay with
the e-book rights, and capture new audiences if they are to recoup
their licencing costs.
The last set of Ian Fleming novels published in the UK were
the centenary
editions with covers by Michael Gillette, released
in hardback in 2008 and paperback in 2010.
