Working Partners is another big packager! They’ve done Warrior Cats, Beast Quest, The 99 Boyfriends of Micah Summers, etc. They do take samples from writers!
I’m not sure what exactly happened to Full Fathom Five, but their books are now managed by 3 Black Dot (https://www.3blackdot.com/publishing). Good article abt a relatively unknown part of the business!
Probably one of the best known writers for hire is LJ Smith, author of the Vampire Diaries. She wrote most of the books, but when Alloy wanted to go one way with the TV show and Smith wanted to go another way with the books, she was released from her contract.
My first job out of college was for a book packager on Stuyvesant Place. We did the Best of Gourmet books, some decor books for House and Garden, The Glamour Food book, and a lot of series for people like Silver Burdett. It was fun! Pay sucked though, even more than regular publishing pay, so I wound up leaving NYC. But good times.
Would you consider outfits like Stratemeyer Syndicate (Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew) to have been a packager? I remember a friend of mine did a bunch of "Sweet Valley High" books when she was starting her career (she's now a successful author under her own name.) What about "shared universe" publishers like Mountaindale & Chris Kennedy? Where do they fall on the spectrum?
From 1992 to approximately 2005, my wife and I were “book packagers” putting together biographical and subject matter encyclopedias for publishers ... a very different operation than what you’re describing. We’d get a concept and a deadline and a contract with fixed payments at intervals, and we basically did the rest: found an advisory board, built the topic list, and then hired (and edited) all the writers who contributed. It was a really great gig for a while. When Wikipedia came along we thought, oh crap, we’re done for, but we weren’t at least not yet. Publishers were still selling our books to libraries, and the rising tide of the internet choked out this market slower than we expected. But eventually it became an impossible game, competing against free, and we got out.
It kinda sounds awful to work for a book packager. I want to own my books!
Working Partners is another big packager! They’ve done Warrior Cats, Beast Quest, The 99 Boyfriends of Micah Summers, etc. They do take samples from writers!
I’m not sure what exactly happened to Full Fathom Five, but their books are now managed by 3 Black Dot (https://www.3blackdot.com/publishing). Good article abt a relatively unknown part of the business!
Working for a book packager sounds like translating a book; you may not get your name on the cover, work for hire, etc.
Probably one of the best known writers for hire is LJ Smith, author of the Vampire Diaries. She wrote most of the books, but when Alloy wanted to go one way with the TV show and Smith wanted to go another way with the books, she was released from her contract.
My first job out of college was for a book packager on Stuyvesant Place. We did the Best of Gourmet books, some decor books for House and Garden, The Glamour Food book, and a lot of series for people like Silver Burdett. It was fun! Pay sucked though, even more than regular publishing pay, so I wound up leaving NYC. But good times.
Fascinating. I’ve never heard of this terminology as a book packager. Thanks for sharing.
Would you consider outfits like Stratemeyer Syndicate (Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew) to have been a packager? I remember a friend of mine did a bunch of "Sweet Valley High" books when she was starting her career (she's now a successful author under her own name.) What about "shared universe" publishers like Mountaindale & Chris Kennedy? Where do they fall on the spectrum?
From 1992 to approximately 2005, my wife and I were “book packagers” putting together biographical and subject matter encyclopedias for publishers ... a very different operation than what you’re describing. We’d get a concept and a deadline and a contract with fixed payments at intervals, and we basically did the rest: found an advisory board, built the topic list, and then hired (and edited) all the writers who contributed. It was a really great gig for a while. When Wikipedia came along we thought, oh crap, we’re done for, but we weren’t at least not yet. Publishers were still selling our books to libraries, and the rising tide of the internet choked out this market slower than we expected. But eventually it became an impossible game, competing against free, and we got out.
Such a helpful article! I'm thinking of starting my own book packaging business.