The world of publishing is a constantly shifting ground with mergers and acquisitions a faily common occurrence. I’m not going to try to address the broader picture here, but instead I’ll just give a brief history of my experience with this through my creative writing textbook A Writer’s Craft.
When I first submitted the book it was to Palgrave, an English publishing house, but I soon learned they were part of Macmillan. As the book coming out and I was getting going with marketing it, I learned that Macmillan International was a separate division from Macmillan USA, and I was with Macmillan International. Soon the Palgrave titles I was with were put under a new imprint Red Globe Press, though all of my sales and marketing were done through Macmillan International Higher Ed with distribution through Springer Nature. It’s enough to make your head spin.
Then this May, I learned that Red Globe Press had been acquired by Bloomsbury, so my title would move to a new publisher. Everything seems to be going along with that move, though the process is a little interesting. My book page at Macmillan IHE (including the companion website for the book) was transferred over to a new website for Red Globe Press. That seems to have happened September 1 or possibly in August, though now I’m told the last step in the process will be to move everything over to Bloomsbury as of October. I’ll keep my links to A Writer’s Craft updated when that happens.
I’m sure there are legal and logistical reasons for why there are so many steps in the process. All of this has happened without any input on my part — my contract was transferred over and I haven’t had to sign again or anything. I’m just a small pawn in a much larger system, which is fine with me. Bloomsbury seems like a good home, though I’ve had no complaints about Palgrave / Macmillan / Red Globe Press, who I’m still officially with. Some of the editors I’ve worked with have come along with Red Globe in the move; others had aleardy been shifted to different responisiblities at Macmillan IHE. I’ll be interested to see what changes occur after the move is completed in October and what developments for the book come as a result of the move.
Kendall Dunkelberg 