HarperCollins Children's Books has announced that it will be publishing science fiction and fantasy titles under the Eos imprint. Eos has been an adult SF imprint since 1998, having originated under the Avon umbrella prior to HarperCollins's acquisition of Morrow and Avon.
Eos is well-known among fans of the SF and fantasy genres for publishing such authors as Raymond Feist, C.J. Cherryh and Anne McCaffrey. The first children's titles for Eos will include the January release Abhorsen by Garth Nix, the third book in the trilogy that began with Sabriel, and February paperback reprints of both The Sterkarm Handshake by Susan Price and The Secret Sacrament by Sherryl Jordan.
According to Ruth Katcher, senior editor for HarperCollins Children's Books (and Nix's editor), new Harper titles and reprints will be added to Eos on a selective basis, with no set number of titles per list currently planned. Katcher names Clive Barker (Abarat) and Neil Gaiman (Coraline) as examples of authors whose children's books were not chosen for Eos, noting that "books for younger kids, say, up to 12 years old" are not the best fit for the Eos label. At present, a book's crossover appeal (i.e., its likelihood to attract readers already familiar with the Eos name) is a key criterion. "We realized that we had a terrific fantasy and science fiction list with books and authors that have a wonderful audience among young people, but that also could cross over into adult readership," Katcher said about the decision to include both adult and children's titles under the Eos umbrella.
Elise Howard, executive publishing director at HarperCollins, will oversee the imprint, but all HC children's editors can submit titles for Eos consideration. The adult and children's divisions will work in tandem in a broad-based marketing campaign that will include cross-cataloguing and tapping into the SF and fantasy communities via the Internet, targeted ads and galley and book mailings.
