PW: SMP, Macmillan U.K. to Launch Global Scholarly Imprint

Looking to sell academic titles to a global marketplace, the Holtzbrinck Group is forming a single scholarly publishing imprint by merging the scholarly and reference divisions of St. Martin's Press and Macmillan Press U.K. into a single international brand to be called Palgrave.

The new imprint will be directed by Garrett Kiely, formerly president and publisher of SMP's scholarly and reference division. Both St. Martin's Press and Macmillan U.K. are now owned by the Holtzbrinck Group, the German media conglomerate that also owns Henry Holt, Farrar Straus & Giroux and other U.S. media properties.

Kiely told PW that while Palgrave will continue to maintain separate U.S. and U.K. editorial offices, its lists will now feed into a single publishing program. The first books under Palgrave should reach the market in early 2001. SMP S&R and Macmillan produce 800 titles a year, with 200 titles coming from the U.S. Kiely said the total title count will remain the same, although "the mix will change." There are 29 employees in the U.S. (Kiely expects to add four U.S. editors) and 150 in the U.K.

"Our goal is to be the new academic publisher of choice in this changing world," said Kiely. "We'll make joint world offers on books. Buying rights is not a national decision anymore. We'll publish for both the U.S. and the U.K. markets," he told PW. He said the new venture is still in the process of addressing issues of warehousing and fulfillment, print-on-demand facilities, author relationships and uniform publishing contracts for the formerly separate publishing programs.

SMP's S&R trademark will be retired, said Kiely, and as the backlists of SMP and Macmillan U.K. are reprinted, those titles will be rebranded as Palgrave titles. The imprint will offer reference, textbooks, business books, general nonfiction and academic monographs. And much like SMP's former S&R division, Palgrave also expects " to give academic authors a shot at the trade." Moreover, Kiely expects to work with Holtzbrinck's online publishing division to offer digital delivery for Palgrave content at some point in the near future.

Upcoming Palgrave titles include Beyond the Bottom Line: Connecting Work, Family and Community by Paula Rayman, and Queering the Moderns by Anne Herrimann. Kiely said the new global publishing imprint will mean "more clout in the marketplace," a "diversity of products for teaching and research" and "efficiencies in inventory management, supply and distribution."