Hodder reanimates Stephen King backlist

The Bookseller - 22.4.11     - Charlotte Williams

Hodder is rolling out a new backlist look for one of its supernatural and thriller stars, Stephen King. The publisher will be re-issuing his backlist, including titles written by his alter-ego, Richard Bachman.

The transformation kicks off in May, with 50 titles being issued as £7.99, B-format paperbacks in nine groups according to genre. Each grouping will have its own theme, colour scheme, and title lettering style. Seven thrillers, such as Cell, Dreamcatcher and Insomnia will be released in May, followed by five of King's suspense novels, including Dolores Claiborne and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, in July.

In August, his "reading group" novels will be released, followed by five of his "chillers" in October, including The Dead Zone and Carrie, and a further five in November, including The Shining.
In January 2012, his short-story collections will be released, including Different Seasons, from which came the films "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Stand By Me". March, May and July 2012 will see his non-fiction, Dark Tower series, and Richard Bachman books released respectively.

King's British editor Philippa Pride said: "We are really excited about this new programme and hope that we'll entice people who love the films 'The Shawshank Redemption', 'Stand By Me' and 'Misery' to read the original books, to hook a new generation of readers, and to re-introduce readers who read Stephen King in their teens to the amazing range and literary power of his work."

The author lettering on the covers is the same as that used for his most recent novels Under the Dome and Full Dark, No Stars, which are the only titles to not yet receive this treatment, though Pride said it "will happen in due course".
On deciding on the groupings, Pride said: "It was like planning seating at a dinner party originally, what goes with what. We played about with it until we felt this was the strongest of the groupings."

The titles will have identifying symbols and spine lettering to further place them in a grouping. Pride added: "The intention was always to point the reader in the right direction. I think it's quite exciting, I'm currently working on the website as well as with marketing. We are giving readers new and exciting routes [into his work]."