News & Publishing Juno Editor/Paula Guran on 03 Jul 2009 01:33 pm
No New Titles for Black Lace and Nexus
According to The Bookseller Virgin Books will not publish any new titles in its Black Lace and Nexus erotica lists next year, although the publisher has said the imprints will remain “active”. The managing director is quoted as saying: “As part of our strategic planning for 2010 we will be prioritising our rapidly growing non-fiction list and as such have decided not to add to our erotica list for that year.”
Black Lace, founded in 1993, describes itself as the leading imprint of erotic fiction for women. Nexus Books is the UK’s longest-running imprint of erotic fiction.
The only surprise, to me, is that Black Lace isn’t being cancelled completely. Sources in the UK told me two years ago that BL was not doing well. Their habit of reissuing old titles with new covers damaged chances for what few new titles they were publishing resulting in poor sales.
on 06 Jul 2009 at 6:20 am 1.Man Candy Monday: Black Lace and Nexus suspended « Erotica Cover Watch said …
[…] Inevitably, there’s been a lot of chat, sympathy and speculation on Twitter (#blacklace) and elsewhere. Some have wondered whether the high number of reprints have damaged sales or if Black Lace has failed to keep pace with a growing and changing erotica market. Others have asked if the imprint’s move towards erotic romance a couple of years ago damaged brand identity and caused confusion and loss of reader confidence. Most longstanding Black Lace authors are only too aware of Virgin and Random House’s failure to invest in the line. Marketing was practically non-existent, the website rarely got updated, advances and flat-fees were down and our fabulous editor, Adam Nevill, worked his nuts off trying to keep Black Lace and Nexus alive despite the loss of key members of his staff due to ‘reorganisation and cuts’ in 2008. […]
on 10 Jul 2009 at 11:34 am 2.xxxSTORYxxx said …
Black Lace should have stuck with releasing a handful of quality new erotica books a year rather than putting that aspect of their business “on hold” or reissuing tired books as they have in the past.
There is still a demand for well written original erotica and plenty of talented authors to write it. This is a huge loss to erotica writers and the fans of their work.
I recently started a small erotica community site and even though its brand new I’m getting daily sign ups of readers and writers as well as submissions of work so its quite obvious to me that erotica still has its place - looks like we will all have to get our “naughty story” hit online rather than curling up with an exciting read in the future!