In news I’m both happy about (personally) and worried about (as a genre fan), Lee Harris has left Angry Robot to join Tor’s new imprint, The Imprint.
Firstly, the thing I’m happy about is that Lee Harris is one heck of an editor. He and Marc Gasgoigne have built Angry Robot from nothing into one of the most respected and diverse imprints in SFF today. They have taken full advantage of being small enough to react quickly to the market and take risks, but being big enough to give each book the full publishing journey (extensive marketing, editing, etc).
I spoke last month about how Tor’s new imprint could be a big thing in the evolution of publishing. For those who don’t know, The Imprint is looking to publish ebook only SFF titles (initially) that are between about 17,500 and 80,000 words – with the sweet spot being novella length of about 50,000. I think that with the growth of Ebooks, the length of a book is less important now. Indeed, shorter digital fiction seems to have a place in today’s world where people have less free time and spend more time commuting. If Tor can become ‘the place’ that SFF commuters go to pick up the short novella that they can get through during their weeks commute, they could easily get 52 sales a year per person on that basis (if the market goes that way).
Back to Lee: he is one of these wonderful people in the SFF Industry who always makes an effort to be at conventions. When there, he doesn’t stay in a circle of other industry experts either, he is always engaging with people and listening to their opinions. Another advantage for Tor is that Lee has worked in marketing before (for Angry Robot in the early days). Being former chair of the British Fantasy Society and a finalist for the 2014 Hugo Award for Best Editor, he is likely to have a few authors in mind too.
Lee said of his appointment: “As soon as I heard that Tor.com were setting up a new novella imprint, I contacted Irene within minutes,” says Harris. “I adore the novella format, and that, combined with the might and obvious passion exhibited by Tor.com, convinced me that this was a project I had to be part of from the start! Imagine my delight when Tor agreed. I’m already itching to get started.”
Tor shared Lee’s excitement: “We are thrilled to have Lee at the core of our team. He has such a great eye for talent, a tremendous amount of marketing savvy, and is an active and engaged member of the community…This is going to be fun,” said Associate Publisher Irene Gallo.”
What am I anxious about then? Well, it was made obvious this week that Angry Robot’s parent company is really struggling when they shut down two of the company’s imprints (Strange Chemistry and Exhibit A. Angry Robot is apparently profitable, but I’m a little nervous about how they are going to replace Lee Harris in their current situation. It would be a brutal blow to SFF to lose Angry Robot or have their dynamic change in any way. That said, Marc Gasgoine is a heck of a guy and is similar to Lee in his love of SFF and attendance at conventions: if anyone can keep Angry Robot’s momentum and profitability going it is him.
Jennie Ivins