After getting into contentious waters with its chick-lit-esque refresh of Jane Austen‘s body of work, Headline is about to launch a new look for the Sherlock Holmes novels. The Bookseller’s Alison Bone reports that on December 18th, Headline Review will publish the entire series in £4.99 B-format paperbacks, which will see the nine classic Sherlock Holmes mysteries given “smart, contemporary” covers. The relaunch will be backed by a marketing and publicity campaign.
“Everyone knows who [Holmes] is and what he looks like, but I am incredibly surprised by how many people haven’t read these books,” said Headline editorial director Harriet Evans. “It’s just like with Jane Austen: everyone has heard of her but a lot of people have not read her books.” The publisher is producing posters and display bins for bookshops and is also planning a box set. It has supermarket support. Sales and marketing manager Paul Erdpresser said retailers had been “overwhelmingly positive” about the initiative, “with good levels of support and pro-motion agreed”. A dedicated website will also go live next month.
As for the reaction to the Austen rebrand, Evans has the last laugh. “They have sold well, but with this kind of publishing it’s not about an incredible sell-out in the first two weeks after publication, it’s about the fact that six months later I’m still seeing every classics table piled with Jane Austens,” Evans said. “I don’t care about whether it ruffles the feathers of some columnist in the Guardian or the books pages of the Telegraph.”