Llewellyn Worldwide, the New Age publisher based in Minnesota, is shutting down its crime fiction imprint, Midnight Ink.
The imprint will close in August 2019, after releasing its last 20 scheduled titles scheduled for its spring/summer season.
Midnight Ink was launched in 2005 with the release of Whiskey on the Rocks by Nina Wright. It was Llewellyn’s first fiction imprint for adult readers, publishing the work of such authors as Jess Lourey, Brendan DuBois, G.M. Malliet, Stephen Hockensmith, and Catriona McPherson.
Three editors will be laid off by as a result of the closure. Company representative Kat Sanborn said the publisher made the decision to focus on the mind/body/spirit nonfiction titles for which Llewellyn is best known.
"We had good reviews, but the sales just weren't there for [Midnight Ink]," Sanborn said, noting that the 250 backlist titles will remain in print, and that frontlist will be marketed and promoted as usual. "We're just not accepting new manuscripts," she said.
Llewellyn, founded in 1902, is headquartered in a St. Paul, Minn., suburb. In 2016, Llewellyn sold its YA fiction imprint, Flux, to North Star Editions.
