Brooklyn-based Paper Lantern Lit, the four-year-old literary “incubator”/ development company co-founded by author Lauren Oliver and former Razorbill editor Lexa Hillyer, is getting into the e-publishing business with this week’s launch of The Studio, described as a boutique e-publishing imprint. Agent Stephen Barbara, of Foundry Literary + Media, who represents Paper Lantern Lit, will make the first public announcement about the imprint at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair on Wednesday.
Four e-books have been announced, with the first, Shana Norris’s The Boyfriend Thief, on sale as of this week. It will be followed by Anya Allyn’s The Dollhouse in May, Carina Adly MacKenzie’s Eternal Night in August, and Lida James’s Beautiful Girl in October.
“In the world of e-publishing, we saw a huge need for discoverability and specialness,” said Paper Lantern’s Hillyer. “The Studio's a place where we nurture talent and bring it to the next level, both on the editorial side and on the marketing side.” The Studio’s publishing partner Vook will be responsible for creation of the e-books, with support from a team of designers and proofreaders.
The goal? To build an author’s fan base and sales online with the potential of turning that momentum into print deals, both in the U.S. and abroad. Said Hillyer, “We absolutely see The Studio as a launching pad, a new way for print publishers to ‘shop PLL.’ ”
One key part of The Studio’s model will be the “intimate editorial attention” its authors will receive, according to Hillyer, in contrast to self-published authors who may or may not enlist the services of an editor before publishing.
According to Hillyer, The Studio will pay its authors “a modest advance with a healthy share of royalties – better, in fact, than what most other publishers give for e-books,” as well as splits in any deals with foreign and domestic publishers or other rights holders.
Paper Lantern Lit was launched in 2010 by Lauren Oliver – whose books include Before I Fall, the bestselling Delirium trilogy, and Panic – and poet/editor Lexa Hillyer, whose first novel, Proof of Forever, is scheduled to be published in 2015 by HarperCollins. Paper Lantern titles include Lauren Morrill’s Being Sloane Jacobs, Fiona Paul’s Secrets of the Eternal Rose trilogy, and Kate Ellison’s The Butterfly Clues.
