HarperCollins U.K. has announced it will give HC's U.S. religion division, Zondervan, all publishing responsibilities for its evangelical imprint, Marshall Pickering, and its mostly Anglican imprint, Fount, effective this summer. The Marshall Pickering and Fount imprints will be discontinued.
According to Adrian Bourne, divisional managing director of trade books at HC U.K., the reorganization will strengthen its U.K. religious publishing business. "The involvement of Zondervan will be a major asset in the utilization of their global strength to drive the business forward to benefit Christian publishing in the U.K.," Bourne said. "I also hope this will give British authors a platform which may result in their works appearing more frequently within the lucrative U.S. market."
Zondervan will evaluate the 200—250 titles on the Marshall Pickering and Fount lists to determine viability, according to Scott Bolinder, executive v-p and publisher of Zondervan, and will select titles that are "consistent with our mission" to add to its catalogue. All titles will be marketed under the Zondervan name.
Zondervan plans to hire an editor who will be based in England to facilitate indigenous U.K. publishing, Bolinder said. "We will continue to acquire books for the future." Bourne said it is too early to comment on how current U.K. religious division publishing director James Catford's job will be affected by the changes. Bourne did say that there will be a "reshuffle" of responsibilities at the publishing house to accommodate staff, which might include "one or two" job losses. Zondervan will take a wait-and-see approach to adding personnel in Grand Rapids, Mich., to help absorb the new titles, Bolinder said.
Although the reorganization means less of an emphasis on the publishing of general religious books in the U.K., HC U.K. will still develop and sell C.S. Lewis titles through its trade division and publish Bibles and liturgical and music books through its reference division.
