Today, Chrissy Brashear, owner of Samhain made the announcement.
“By mutual agreement Kensington and Samhain have dissolved our co-venture agreement. Current circumstances being what they do not make it conducive for the launch of a new print program. Once things settle we can revisit the idea of working together.”
Personal statement – I write for Samhain.
I think this says more about Kensington than it does about Samhain. My Samhain sales are very nice, even though my books there are highly sensual rather than erotic, (my erotic romances are at Ellora’s Cave and Loose Id) and I’ve seen steady growth. Samhain authors are in general a very happy lot. But as last week’s Samhain top tens showed, the majority of the big sales are in erotic romance.
Last week, Kensington halved their Aphrodisia line and the editor of the line, the much respected Hilary Sares, left. I don’t know if I’m adding two and two and getting five here, but it looks like Kensington is cutting back on erotic romance. What they’ll replace it with remains to be seen.
I have to say that my erotic romances sell like the proverbial. So is it that erotic romance sells better online? That readers don’t want to go into a bookstore and buy it? In this day and age? I doubt it. Other houses are doing very well with their erotic romances. Harlequin have souped up the Presents/Modern and Silhouette Desire lines, which often contain explicit scenes these days, and the Blaze line is going great guns.
At this stage I have more questions than answers, but the news is out there. I love Kensington as a house, and I think they produce quality books. Some of my favorite authors write for them. I was sad when Hilary left, but I have to say that although I have Aphrodisia books in my TBR, I haven’t read them yet. Maybe that’s it?
with all due respect, I don’t think that Hilary’s leaving and the, reported but not confirmed cut in the Aphrodisia line are actually one and the same. (several of the K editors acquire Aphrodisia books not just Hilary.)
I can, however totally understand why both companies are reluctant to launch a new line at this time.
And personally, as an Aphrodisia author I’ve been very happy with my sales so far and I’ve recently been contracted to write 3 more, so I don’t think you should be nailing the lid down on our coffin quite yet 🙂
best
Kate Pearce x
I don’t know if many people understood that all editors bought for or could buy for all lines at Kensington. So that is something to keep in mind, personally I never liked how Aphro was marketed as an erotic romance line while asking for authors to submit anything from erotic romance to erotica.
I think it confused readers and I would bet didn’t help sells.
But I couldn’t say. Kate do you write Erotic Romance as in HEA or lean more toward erotica?
I think the idea to cut is prolly a good one in the state of the market right now. And can’t say they have to really ‘replace’ it with anything. Kensington is a strong publisher with great imprints and authors in Zebra and Brava, as well as Aphrodisia. But who knows… and I am sure will we all know more soon enough.
I sincerely hope not. I really liked the idea of a line like Aphrodisia, and I would love it to go from strength to strength.
AFAIK the news about the Aphrodisia line was broken by Jessica Faust, but she later removed the statement from the Bookends blog (although some comments about it remain).
For those of us wondering why the estimable Hilary Sares left Kensington, it supplied some kind of answer. If that’s not the reason she left, then that leaves the original question unanswered.
So is it that erotic romance sells better online? That readers don’t want to go into a bookstore and buy it? In this day and age?
I can’t speak for others, obviously, but as a reader and a book-buyer, I buy relatively little erotic romance in hard copy. And I don’t believe that I’ve bought more than one or two Aphrodisia books. Not because I have a problem buying “embarrassing” books in person, but because I don’t care for the tradepaperback format. The erotic romance shelved in my local bookstore is almost entirely in that format, which means I either buy it used, borrow it from the library, or buy the e-version.
jmc–I personally love buying erotic romance in ebook and print format both. I have Lacey Alexander, Lacy Danes, Elizabeth Scott, Sahara Kelley, Shayla Black, Lisa Marie Rice, Lora Leigh…among tons of others in my stacks. All are great authors and all write erotic romance. At 40 yrs. old, I figure it’s okay to buy what I want. 😉
The main reason I haven’t read many Aphrodisias is probably because they’re trade paperback format, and my arthritis makes it hard to handle them. Checking my shelves just now, I have a lot of Kensington books on my shelves from the various imprints, but I’ve gone over to ebooks as much as I can, so my print TBR has been a tad neglected of late.
Like Sybil, I thought Aphrodisia was Hilary’s thing, and that she was the yay or nay for the line. If other editors could buy for it as well, that makes a bit more sense.
And the erotic versus erotic romance thing? Yay on that. I want my happy ending, something that erotica doesn’t always supply, and I want to know it’s there before I start to read. If it isn’t, I might still read the book, especially if it’s by a fave author, but at least I’d be forewarned.
With the appalling news coming out of houses like Harper Collins, everyone is jumpy these days, and pouncing on any snippet.
Well I have known for a while, Kate corrected me forever ago when I asked who ‘bought’ for zebra and she said we all do.
I am pretty sure Kensingston is still doing ebooks… aren’t they?
Sybil said:
“But I couldn’t say. Kate do you write Erotic Romance as in HEA or lean more toward erotica?”
Well, all my books have a HEA, but might just include a few unconventional, um elements along the way, Personally I’d call them edgy erotic romance-but that might just be me-I certainly do write about love in all its shades. LOL
And Lynne, this isn’t the first time that Hilary has parted company with Kensington, she did it once before and came back, so who knows her reasons? Kensington are moving to new offices this month so maybe she decided it was a good time to go before she had to pack 🙂
I’ve found that erotic romance/erotica confusion in most of the NY erotic lines and sometimes reading the back cover doesn’t help at all. I think its because they can’t be too explicit about what they put on the back if they want the books to get in stores.
Ebook-wise my Aphrodisia’s are available in e-format and seem to sell quite well.
best
Kate Pearce
Was this formally announced already? The only place I saw any announcements was on the Samhain business loop–which, as far as I know, contains confidential information.
No clue Donna but Chrissy Brashear was checked with before it was posted here.
I don’t think Hilary has anything to do with this. The editor who oversees the erotic line is still there as are plenty of others buying that line. Editors leave houses. It happens. As for the erotic market there were a lot trade paperbacks in the market really fast in erotica just like chicklit and things would scale back in good times. These are not good economic times. Worse –trades are expensive and people are not buying trades as much with that price tag. Borders situation alone is a daunting one for publishers as well. And really we don’t know how any line is doing at any house. According to the companies reporting publicly not many are doing well and not just in publishing. In any industry for that matter.
When one of the two biggest book buyers doesn’t have a solid footing — the one buying the most romance — it seems like a good time to pull back from new ventures. Hopefully we will see them go back to this later. I thought their launch together was exciting.
“Was this formally announced already? The only place I saw any announcements was on the Samhain business loop–which, as far as I know, contains confidential information.”
Donna – I saw it on the business loop, too, but I wrote and asked Chrissy if it was for public consumption yet before I made it public. She said it was okay.
Just a casual FYI, if you’re going to be breaking company news in the future, Crissy doesn’t use the “h” unless she uses the full Christina.
My understanding was that Aphrodisia was erotica, not erotic romance, so I never explored the line since I prefer romance. The Harlequin hot categories are all definitely romance, and they seem to be doing well. Perhaps it is the erotica lines that are not doing so well?
As far as readers preferring to buy erotic titles online instead of in a bookstore, yup, I get that. I think that is still a big issue. I know I often have my pda loaded with erotic romances that I would not leave in paperback around my desk at work because of how others would react.
And I loathe the trade paperback size, too awkward for my small hands.
John Scognamiglio, the editor-in-chief at Kensington also has been acquiring books/novellas for the Aphrodisia line. Just FYI.
I don’t think the announcement has much to do with Samhain, really. They struck this agreement in the summer of 2007….a lot has changed since then. Could be Samhain thought they were doing fine on their own, could be Kensington was wanting to limit new investments into untried waters during a trying economic time.
I’m going to throw a few comments out that popped into my head as I read this.
I write for both Samhain and Kensington Aphrodisisa, and are happy with both. And the sales numbers do not compare. LOL Aphrodisia sells way more than Samhain, and has much wider distribution. But IMO, thats to be expected.
I agree that one of the main reasons readers don’t buy Aphrodisia, or any other NY print erotica/erotic romance is because they are trade size, and the price can be killer when buying more than one book.
And I’m wondering if everyone forgat that the Aprhodisia line started out with only 2 books a month. Cutting back in this economy is not a bad thing, and certainly not a show that the line is dieing.
John is my editor, an has been from the beginning, Hilary is definitely not the only editor buying for Aphrodisia,
And lastly, I can’t believe this particular debate is still going on, it’s been 3 years and someone still has to always bring it up. *shakes head*
After the first 6 months of Aphrodisia’s hit the shelves, I think they have all been erotic romance. The confusion came from the fact that they first asked for erotica, not knowing that it would be such a big deal to readers that there was a difference. Things shifted, and I believe all Aphrodisia’s have been erotic romance for a couple of years. That’s not to say they all have traditional HEAs with marriage, or that the stories are traditional, but they are romances. Even my own. *grin*
sasha I am shocked you are shocked I would still bring that up! Last I checked it was still an on going thing… so I am mucho happy if it isn’t anymore and would GLADLY never ever bring it up again.
errr well maybe only to say I was right… I never thought they needed to be traditional HEA with marriage and 10000 babies but that there be a HEA not a open ending ‘maybe we meet again sometime fade to black’ or ‘10000 fuckfest and no one ends up with anyone but a smile at the erotica ending’ – not to say that is wrong or that they don’t have places in the bookstore
JUST NOT IN ROMANCE 🙂
From what I have been told every editor at Kensington can buy for any line. For all I know that has changed but… you do have a fabu editor though since he is also Jo Goodman’s ;).
sasha I am shocked you are shocked
You are not! You like to shock me, you want to shock me…and you yourself are never shocked!
hee hee
Ok you are right it has been a while since I whined about it…
like 2006 and I ain’t gonna go look for a more recent quote ::cough::now::cough::
What Sasha said LOL
She is far more eloquent than I’ll ever be.
Kate Pearce x