HarperCollins has reached an agreement with Agatha Christie Ltd., the company that controls publishing rights to the legendary author’s works, to become her exclusive worldwide English language publisher. Although HC publishes all Christie titles in the U.K., her books have been published by several different publishers in the U.S. and Canada. The deal is for all formats, including digital.
“The U.S. and Canadian publishing teams are extremely eager to start working on reaching new readers for this iconic and important author,” said Michael Morrison, president and publishers of HarperCollins General Books Group and Canada. First repackaged books will be released in the U.S. in early 2011 beginning a number of classics including And Then There Were None, Murder on The Orient Express and Death on The Nile. There are approximately 80 books on the Christie backlist. Although her last book, Sleeping Murder, was released in 1976, about 4 million copies of Christie titles are still sold worldwide annually.
Waheed Ali, executive chairman of Chorion, the majority shareholder of Agatha Christie Ltd said “We are delighted that HarperCollins will be Christie’s new global publisher as we already have a great working relationship with them in the UK on Agatha Christie, and we are excited about working with them on the challenges that lie ahead in this new world of publishing.”
According to the HC release, “plans for the years ahead are shaped by a wholly different publishing landscape, meeting the twin challenges of globalization and digitization. Being the single worldwide English language publisher for all formats in all markets will allow HarperCollins to work even more closely with Chorion, creating synergies with their innovative program of television, film and other licensing activity.”
