Doubleday and Vintage Books, imprints of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, have announced a collaboration with movie company Blumhouse Productions, the team behind genre franchises like Paranormal Activity and The Purge.
The new multi-format publishing program, Blumhouse Books, will be overseen by Nick Simonds, former acquisitions editor at Atria Books, who will act as the imprint’s director of publishing.
The new collaboration kicks off with The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares: The Haunted City, an anthology of short fiction from big names in horror filmmaking—contributors include actor/novelist Ethan Hawke, director/producer Eli Roth, director Scott Derrickson, film critic/novelist C. Robert Cargill, actor Chris Denham and screenwriter/producer James DeMonaco.
For Book of Nightmares, Doubleday publisher William Thomas and Vintage executive editor Edward Kastenmeier took world rights from Creative Artists Agency. Doubleday associate editor Rob Bloom will edit the collection, which goes on sale simultaneously in trade paperback, hardcover, and e-book in July 2015.
The publisher is also announcing a consumer contest inviting fans to submit their own horror short fiction for possible inclusion in the collection. Top submissions will be posted on the Blumhouse Books website and social media, and readers will vote for the best entry.
Blumhouse Productions specializes in making profitable films on micro-budgets— its Paranormal Activity, The Purge, Insidious, and Sinister franchises have grossed more than $1.2 billion worldwide. The first Paranormal Activity film was made for $15,000 and grossed close to $200 million worldwide, making it, according to the publisher, the most profitable film in Hollywood history. In television, Jason Blum, founder of Blumhouse Productions, won any Emmy for his producing role on HBO's The Normal Heart.
