Ravenous Romance and Red Wheel Weiser Books have signed a deal whereby Red Wheel will bring some of Ravenous’ paranormal romance e-books into paper print. To start, Red Wheel has licensed world English rights to 12 Ravenous paranormal romance e-books, which will be published under the new Red Silk Editions imprint, starting in June. Red Wheel plans to release two trade paperbacks per month, priced at $12.95 each.
Red Wheel’s Director of Marketing Bonni Hamilton told Publishers Weekly that the deal gives them a quick way to establish a presence in the still-expanding romance market. The paranormal segment, she said, “fits well with our track record publishing occult and esoteric titles.” The Red Silk imprint will be headed by publisher Jan Johnson.
The titles slated for print publication will be chosen in conjunction with Ravenous, and will likely be their bestselling titles. Red Wheel President Michael Kerber said that, since the books have already been selling as e-books, “it’s like our consumer research has already been done.”
Looking toward the future, Hamilton said they might experiment with offering e-book and print book bundles.
Kerber said that a successful program could be easily expanded. “Ravenous has no shortage of titles.”
Kerber also said that reaction from Barnes & Noble and Borders has been very positive.
Ravenous co-founder Holly Schmidt said “We see this partnership as an enormous opportunity to expand our reach.”
Book packager Schmidt and her partner Allan Penn, along with agent Lori Perkins, formed Ravenous in 2008 to “take the tenets of mass-market publishing—high volume, low cost—and bring it into the digital age with high-quality ebooks and digital audiobooks, all at affordable prices.”
Red Wheel Weiser’s background is as a publisher “of esoteric, occult teachings from traditions all around the world and through time. Metaphysics and magick, astrology, tarot, Eastern thought, Western mystery traditions. New consciousness, received wisdom, information about how to live now in these changing times.”