Kensington Launches Digital Speculative Fiction Imprint

Reprinted from Publishers Weekly. For original article, go HERE

Kensington Publishing will launch Rebel Base Books this fall, which will publish science fiction and fantasy e-book originals. A digital-only imprint, Rebel Base will be overseen by Kensington editor Martin Biro.
“As a lifelong fanboy raised on a steady diet of Star Trek and Lord of the Rings, I couldn’t be more excited to boldly go where Kensington has never gone before,” Biro said in a statement.
The imprint will debut with a new book from Barb Hendee (author of the Noble Death series) called Through a Dark Glass. Kensington holds world English and audio rights to the book, which is the first in a two-book contract.
Speaking to the line, Karen Auerbach, Kensington's director of publicity, told PW that Rebel Base will publish 60 books a year.
“While Kensington has a storied science fiction and fantasy backlist of authors and titles, including such luminaries as Philip K. Dick, we’ve never delved so deeply into this crowd-pleasing category," Kensington publisher Lynn Cully said. "We know that these readers are very passionate and discerning, so we’re going to be highly selective in forming our list."
Manuscripts submitted to the new imprint for publication will be considered regardless of whether the author has an agent, Kensington said. The imprint's focus will also be on "soft" sci-fi, including thrillers; space travel; alternate worlds and histories; and classic epic fantasy.

Lyrical News

KENSINGTON’S DIGITAL-FIRST IMPRINT LYRICAL PRESS ANNOUNCES

PRINT LINE TO DEBUT IN 2018

July, 2016: Kensington Publishing Corp. announced at the 2016 Romance Writers of America Conference in San Diego that Lyrical Press, its digital-first imprint, will launch a line of mass market paperback originals under the Lyrical Press banner. Lyrical’s mass market line will feature authors new to print, but who previously have been published digitally in Lyrical Press, and gained a following through their eBook titles and series. Starting in January 2018, the Lyrical Press print line will release one competitively priced mass market title per month, with three titles in each author’s series being published within a 12 month period. All releases will have a simultaneous eBook edition.

Three Lyrical authors have already been signed to the program. Leah Marie Brown, author of Lyrical’s It Girls series, is poised to debut the line in January 2018. Heather Heyford, author of the Napa Wine Heiresses series and upcoming Wine Country Romance series, and Jenna Jaxon, author of the House of Pleasure series, will follow Brown to kick off the new print line.

Alexandra Nicolajsen, Director of Social Media and Digital Sales, says of the launch, “Adding a print component to this already prolific imprint will increase the Lyrical footprint in all formats—giving authors an opportunity for a wide in-store presence, which will further grow readership across the board. It is an important next step in the development of our authors and a key piece to building their careers, which is always the central goal at Kensington.”

Martin Biro, Editor, Lyrical Press states, “Our goal with Lyrical is always to first build an audience, then establish a brand and strong sales within the digital market, so it’s wonderful to be able to launch new print series with this pre-existing platform.  We’re eager to get these books into the hands of more readers than ever before and thrilled to see these authors make the leap into print for the first time.”

Another three for T.S. Joyce

Another three available from the fabulous T.S. Joyce! I'm a bit behind at the moment so the first two, Air Ryder and Novak Raven are already out and Blackwing Dragon will be out soon!