Dorchester Publishing was a publisher of
mass market paperback
A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, lea ...
books. Although mostly known for romance, Dorchester also published
horror,
thriller and
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
titles.
Publication lines
Dorchester was the original publisher of the ''
Hard Case Crime
Hard Case Crime is an American imprint of hardboiled crime novels founded in 2004 by Charles Ardai (also the founder of the Internet service Juno Online Services) and Max Phillips. The series recreates, in editorial form and content, the flavor o ...
'' line of pulp-style mysteries. In addition, Dorchester distributes the ''Family Doctor'' series of health guides in the US and Canada. Their ''Love Spell''
imprint
Imprint or imprinting may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series
* "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror''
* ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film
...
handles the newer types of romance, and complements their more traditional ''
Leisure Books
Leisure Books was a mass market paperback publisher specializing in horror and thrillers that operated from 1957 to 2010. In the company's early years, it also published fantasy, science fiction, Westerns, and the Wildlife Treasury card series ...
'' imprint. They also have an imprint for thrillers, the ''Smooch'' imprint for
young adult literature
Young adult fiction (YA) is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. While the genre is primarily targeted at adolescents, approximately half of YA readers are adults.
The subject matter and genres of YA correlate ...
, and ''Making It'' for
trade paperback chick-lit
Chick lit is a term used to describe a type of popular fiction targeted at younger women. Widely used in the 1990s and 2000s, the term has fallen out of fashion with publishers while writers and critics have rejected its inherent sexism. Novels id ...
novels.
Dorchester also publishes romance magazines such as ''
True Confessions'' and ''
True Story''. Dorchester offers book clubs, fan registries, and a comprehensive website for readers. Dorchester books are featured in their "Dear Reader Book Clubs", which allows readers to read a chapter a day from the book for a week.
History
Dorchester Publishing was founded in 1971, and claims to be the oldest independent mass market publisher in America.
Dorchester acquired
Leisure Books
Leisure Books was a mass market paperback publisher specializing in horror and thrillers that operated from 1957 to 2010. In the company's early years, it also published fantasy, science fiction, Westerns, and the Wildlife Treasury card series ...
in c. 1982, making it into a Dorchester imprint and eventually transitioning Leisure into a
horror line.
They added the ''Love Spell'' imprint in 1993, and new thriller and young adult imprints in 2003. In 2004, they launched their trade paperback chick-lit imprint ''Making It'', and with
Charles Ardai
Charles Ardai (born 1969) is an American entrepreneur, businessperson, and writer of award winning crime fiction and mysteries. He is founder and editor of Hard Case Crime, a line of pulp-style paperback crime novels. He is also an early employe ...
they co-founded the ''Hard Case Crime'' imprint.
Also in 2004, Dorchester purchased magazine publisher
Sterling/MacFadden, acquiring with it several romance magazines.
In August 2010, after two years of big drops in sales, Dorchester announced a temporary shift from printing books on paper to
e-book
An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...
s and
print-on-demand
Print on demand (POD) is a printing technology and business process in which book copies (or other documents, packaging or materials) are not printed until the company receives an order, allowing prints of single or small quantities. While oth ...
services.
[.] At the same time, they announced that they would be setting new royalty rates for their authors. However, in October 2010, the
Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is an organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City.
The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday.
It presents the Edgar Award ...
removed Dorchester from their list of Approved Publishers citing failure to pay authors their advances and royalties. In November, Dorchester's former CEO, John Prebich, resigned and was replaced by Robert Anthony; Anthony promised that his first step would be to review the publisher's royalty process. In October 2010, Dorchester announced that publication of the ''Hard Case Crime'' imprint would be transferred from Dorchester to
Titan Books
Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of Titan Entertainment Group, which was established in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cinema reference books; and graphic novels and co ...
, and in January and February 2011, Dorchester offered to sell off the names of several of its discontinued magazines.
At the end of 2011, BroadLit purchased the subscriber databases and content of True Romance and True Love magazines—including more than 12,000 stories, photos, and illustrations from the 1920s to 2011. BroadLit is publishing both print and e-book compilations of stories from the magazines, grouped by themes, under the TruLOVE Collection umbrella.
In March 2011, horror author
Brian Keene
Brian Keene (born September 22, 1967) is an American author and podcaster, primarily known for his work in horror, dark fantasy, crime fiction, and comic books. He has won the 2014 World Horror Grandmaster Award and two Bram Stoker Awards. In a ...
announced a boycott of Dorchester over claims that it was still not paying its authors and that it had sold books to which it did not own the sales rights; Keene was joined by dozens of other authors, editors, artists, and organizations. Dorchester responded by promising to suppress sales of reverted books and to pay its authors what they are owed.
In August 2012
Amazon Publishing
Amazon Publishing (simply APub) is Amazon's book publishing unit launched in 2009. It is composed of 15 imprints including AmazonEncore, AmazonCrossing, Montlake Romance, Thomas & Mercer, 47North, and TOPPLE Books.
Amazon publishes e-books via ...
announced that it had acquired at auction the publishing contacts of over 1000 books from Dorchester Publishing. Dorchester authors were offered the opportunity to join Amazon Publishing and receive the full back royalties that Dorchester indicated were owed. Under the terms of Amazon's bid, any former Dorchester Publishing authors that chose not to work with Amazon Publishing will have their rights revert to them to pursue other publishing opportunities including self-publishing via the Kindle Direct Publishing platform.
[.]
References
External links
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{{Authority control
Book publishing companies based in New York (state)
Publishing companies established in 1971
American companies established in 1971
1971 establishments in New York City