In a landmark publishing agreement, Stephen King’s publisher of twenty years Scribner has acquired North American and Open Market print, e-book, and audio rights to almost the entirety of the bestselling author’s body of work. The 27 titles in the agreement include classic Stephen King novels such as: IT, Misery, Dolores Claiborne, Christine, Cujo, The Dead Zone, and Firestarter; the novella collections Different Seasons and Four Past Midnight; and the first four volumes of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series (please see attached for a full list of titles). E-book and e-audio editions of the acquired titles will be available from Scribner and Simon & Schuster Audio beginning on January 1, 2016. Print editions in trade and mass market paperback from the Scribner, Pocket Books, and Gallery imprints will follow. News of the agreement was announced today by Nan Graham, Senior Vice President and Publisher of Scribner and Stephen King’s editor.
“It’s a no-brainer, really,” said Stephen King. “Good publishing and good relationships equals happy writers and long shelf life. I know from experience that this group of people—at Scribner, at Pocket, at Simon & Schuster Audio, and throughout the company—values the work I do, and wants to find as many readers as possible for the books I write, both now and in the future. Trusting them with this large body of work is my pleasure. We are excellent allies and good friends.”
“Since we first began publishing Stephen King with Bag of Bones, he has continually challenged and inspired us, bringing to us new and exciting books of astonishing range and variety, that are each and every one an event for reader and publisher alike,” said Carolyn Reidy, President and Chief Executive Officer of Simon & Schuster, Inc. “So after nearly twenty years in which he has energized and touched nearly every part of our company, we well know and understand the strength and power of his backlist, and are simply overjoyed to have this rare opportunity to bring to Simon & Schuster this vibrant and vital catalog of Stephen’s earlier works.”
“As we are daily grateful to Scribner’s Max Perkins for F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, our successors will be grateful to us for Stephen King, whose books will get under the skin of readers long after we are gone,” said Nan Graham. “Scribner is honored and thrilled to have published Steve for two decades, to look forward to a future of publishing him, and to take on this magnificent backlist. In addition to being one of the greatest storytellers of all time, Stephen King is a stellar citizen of the book world. We love his writing. We love him.”
“For almost the entire course of my long career in publishing, Stephen King has been a towering feature of the international book publishing landscape,” said Susan Moldow, President of the Scribner Publishing Group. “Empires have risen and fallen, but Stephen King has continued to both dominate bestseller and year-end best-of lists. It is a joy beyond imagining to welcome these core titles to Scribner’s venerable backlist.”
“Pocket Books enthusiastically embraces adding these wonderful books to our existing King backlist program which continues to provide robust sales for all of our booksellers in paperback,” said Louise Burke, President of the Gallery Books Publishing Group.
“Stephen King’s support for the audiobook medium is unmatched by any author,” said Chris Lynch, President and Publisher, Simon & Schuster Audio. “From his willingness to publish original audiobooks to his advocacy of the joys of listening to his occasional stints behind the microphone, Steve has been the perfect publishing partner from day one. We are thrilled to expand that partnership.”
In the two decades since Scribner became Stephen King’s publisher, he has written many of his most critically-acclaimed books, from Lisey’s Story to On Writing, from the culmination of the Dark Tower series to Under the Dome and 11/22/63. In this time, he has also won numerous literary honors, from the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters to the National Medal of Arts, recently presented by President Obama. King’s audiobooks have won multiple Audie Awards, including Best Fiction wins for Doctor Sleep, Duma Key, and The Talisman and Audible Audiobook of the Year wins for 11/22/63 and Doctor Sleep. Stephen King’s short story collection The Bazaar of Bad Dreams will be published by Scribner on November 3.
Nan Graham negotiated the agreement on behalf of Scribner, Gallery/Pocket Books, and Simon & Schuster Audio with literary agent Chuck Verrill of Darhansoff & Verrill.
Scribner is an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc., a part of CBS Corporation. Simon & Schuster is a global leader in the field of general interest publishing, dedicated to providing the best in fiction and nonfiction for consumers of all ages, across all printed, electronic, and audio formats. Its divisions include Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, Simon & Schuster Audio, Simon & Schuster Digital, and international companies in Australia, Canada, India and the United Kingdom. For more information visit our website at www.simonandschuster.com
