Macmillan has reached an agreement with Entangled Publishing to handle Entangled's global distribution, beginning February 1. Macmillan will distribute English language e-books of Entangled’s new publications in all domestic and international markets and for all platforms where Macmillan currently does business.
In a separate agreement, St. Martin’s Press will launch a new joint venture imprint known as St. Martin’s/Entangled which will bring into print and publish a select number of Entangled’s digital first titles.
Entangled has seen tremendous growth (profiled here by PW) and has expanded to more than 350 authors, at a rate of 30 titles released per month. And according to Liz Pelletier, publisher and senior editor, Entangled will up its production schedule going forward. "By this time next year, we'll have 11 digital first imprints releasing approximately four titles per month and two print first imprints releasing two titles per month each. So that will be 48 titles per month. We're signing approximately 30 contracts per month right now as we ramp up. We're at 103 employees, 43 of which are editorial staff."
Entangled's structure, which pays authors higher author royalties (40% on cover price on digital titles and 9% on print) and has a lower break-even point, has paid off for its authors. The Marriage Bargain by Jennifer Probst was the #6 overall bestselling book of 2012 according to The Washington Post, and eight other titles were USA Today bestsellers.
As part of the distribution deal, Macmillan will provide Entangled with its title management software and systems and will also hire personnel to manage Entangled specifically. The number of titles to be offered in print as part of the deal is still to be decided.
John Sargent, Macmillan’s CEO, said, “We are hugely impressed with Liz Pelletier’s vision and what she has accomplished in such a short time. We found her out-of-the-box approach to publishing incredibly exciting and saw potential to work together with her on several levels. We think Liz and Entangled have found a new way forward and we think we can help build on that remarkable success.”
