Thomas Nelson—Dropping Imprints
Thomas Nelson, a book industry leader, announced plans last fall to phase out its 21 imprint publishing companies. Most large publishers run an imprint system—multiple brands owned by the same company that each focus on different tastes and markets.
Thomas Nelson, however, has begun dismantling their imprint system as of April 1. Within two years, all of their titles will bear the Thomas Nelson logo.
“Out of Imprint: A Book Publisher Nixes Niches,” an article by James Sturdivant for Advertising Age, shows that there are arguments on both sides of the issue. Imprinting has its advantages, but uniting under one label may result in a stronger brand name, among other things.
Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson, told Ad Age that “imprints simply add another layer of noise in trying to reach consumers.”
Is it noise, or is it structure?
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Tim Etherington
Noise. The distribution to the imprints isn’t consistent. I just have never found them all that helpful.
Aug 30th, 2007 4:47 pm
Benjamin Potter
Some imprints have been helpful. Others not so much. Often it depends on whether the imprint is attachable to the house or not. In the case of Nelson, I’ve always felt their Tommy Nelson brand has been helpful in identifying the children’s books. For the most part the imprints of non-religious publishers have been the ones that meant the most to me over the years. As for religious publishers, just the house name is more important–Nelson, Tyndale, Baker, etc.
Aug 30th, 2007 11:22 pm