Moving quickly on its promise to use the Harlequin acquisition to expand its international footprint, HarperCollins has announced the creation of HarperCollins Germany. To form the new unit, HC is expanding the Harlequin Hamburg office, although HC executives stressed that the company will continue to release the same number of Harlequin titles under existing imprints for the German market while adding 50 HarperCollins Germany titles.
Brian Murray, CEO of HC, said HarperCollins Germany is the” template” for the way HC plans to expand its foreign-language publishing program by building on Harlequin’s existing offices around the world. New foreign language offices are planned for Japan, Sweden, Holland and Spain “in the coming months” and Murray said that HC will soon have the ability to offer its authors the chance to publish in 15 languages in addition to English.
The first author signed by HC to a multi-language deal is its bestselling English-language author Daniel Silva. HC has reached an agreement with Silva to publish The Heist and three new books into 16 markets. Released in the U.S. in July, The Heist will be published in Germany in fall 2015 on the company's first fall list, followed by Brazil, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Hungary, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. Silva’s three forthcoming new books will be published in those markets as well as in Denmark, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, and Spain.
Speaking about the Germany launch, Murray said that current plans are to limit output to 50 HarperCollins Germany titles annually, doing three to four books per month. Most books will be commercial fiction, Murray said, and will include books drawn from current HC author’ backlist works as well as new titles. Thomas Beckman, Harlequin Germany managing director, will oversee HarperCollins Germany and Murray said the company will be adding staff to help build the German list. To date, HC’s publishing efforts have focused primarily on English-language markets, but the rollout of its foreign-language program will “make us a more important player on the world stage.” Murray said.
