As the original publisher of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, Lord Byron, and Jane Austen, U.K.-based John Murray Press, which was acquired by Hachette in 2004, has made a lasting literary and cultural impact. Today, John Murray operates multiple specialty imprints, which run the gamut from self-help to finance books. David Corey, North American v-p of sales and marketing for John Murray Press, spoke with PW about the press’s unparalleled publishing legacy, the company’s expansion within the U.S. market, and how “with a nod to the old, there’s always something new.”
The history behind John Murray Press is fascinating. For all that has changed since the publisher’s inception, what has remained consistent?
Founded in 1768, John Murray Press is one of the oldest English-language publishers in the world, and over those 250 years of doing business, we still hold to the same publishing values that the press was founded on—a thoughtful attention to civic need. JMP produced the first mass-market cookery book, as well as the first self-help title, the first travel guide series, and, in Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation, the first television tie-in (1969). Today, that entrepreneurial spirit continues. We publish comics for the medical world. We publish a Manga version of the Bible. We started the first committed list on gender diversity and sexuality for a major trade publisher. And we’re constantly looking for new ideas, new formats, new subjects, and new audiences.
What can you share about the expansion of John Murray Press into the U.S. market? Have you encountered any roadblocks to reaching a new American readership?
Certain imprints of John Murray Press have been operating successfully as independent presses in the U.S. for decades. Both Jessica Kingsley Publishers and Nicholas Brealey Publishing, now John Murray Business, had strong U.S. hubs when John Murray brought them under its umbrella. The logistics of bringing the other imprints into the U.S. fold has caused its expected headaches, but the response in the market itself has been both warm and enthusiastic. This was especially true for Hodder Faith, our most recent addition to our list of U.S.-facing imprints at JMP.
You’ve written before about the learning curve when it comes to collaborating with a U.K. publisher. How do operations differ, and what has surprised you most about the partnership?
I’ve been working daily with people from across the pond for the last decade. The differences are more cultural than operational. The process of acquiring, producing, and selling books is quite universal, albeit with wrinkles here and there, as I’ve written elsewhere. But what continues to both surprise and impress me is the cultural position of book publishing in the U.K., and at John Murray Press in particular. I work for a company that published Jane Austen; but I also work for a company that recently published a book on chest binding for trans men. Working for JMP has made me far more aware of how literary history is nothing more than the cutting edge of the past. The sense of commitment, humility, and vision among my colleagues is what gets me up in the morning. With a nod to the old, there’s always something new.
John Murray Press has multiple imprints with broad-ranging and unique specialties. What can you share about the scope of these imprints?
Our specialist imprints, which are the imprints we sell directly to the U.S. market, consist of five major imprint hubs. John Murray Business, formerly Nicholas Brealey Publishing, publishes books on business, coaching, and finance. John Murray Languages publishes the popular Teach Yourself language series, the Michel Thomas language learning app, and many other language learning and language study titles. Hodder Faith publishes titles on Christian belief and values and is the publisher of the NIV Bible in the U.K. and the Commonwealth. Sheldon Press is our self-help imprint, publishing great books on women’s health, aging, nutrition, mental health, and relationships. This is all rounded out by our large and diverse Jessica Kingsley Publishers list, which publishes everything from books on gender and sexuality, neurodiversity and autism, mental health, and parenting to professional bodywork and complementary medicine texts. Together, these imprints cross-pollinate with one another in fun and surprising ways.
What does it mean to you to continue the legacy of such a storied publishing company?
At this stage in my career, if I allow myself to get at all cynical about publishing, I imagine title after title being thrown into the marketplace, maybe selling, maybe being pulped, only to be followed by the next book and the next one. But in truth publishing is about story. Not the fictional stories we publish, but the story of us, how each book is a new perspective, a new idea, a new understanding of who we all are. John Murray Press has been keeping that story alive longer than any other commercial press. After all, this is the company that first published Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. Helping to tell that story to an American audience is both humbling and fantastically exciting to me.
What parts of JMP’s specialist publishing excite you the most?
There’s always the perennial thrill of “what’s next?” in publishing. But I have to say that what I find most exciting about JMP is how it builds constant bridges between its past publishing and that “what’s next?” question. For example, Jessica Kingsley Publishers emerged as a publishing force in the U.S. due to its popular books on the subject of autism. More recently, we began publishing widely on the topic of diversity in gender, sexuality, and sexual expression. This gender and sexuality list grew directly out of our understanding that neurodiverse people express queer gender and sexual identities at far higher rates than the general population. Our Hodder Faith imprint produces a wide range of resources for evangelical Christians. But that same imprint also publishes books that build bridges between our scientific, modern world and the world of Christian faith. From Charles Darwin to the NIV Bible, John Murray Press’s bridge building is both exciting and unique, and I love being part of that.
How do you envision John Murray Press evolving over the next 10 years?
My hope and vision are that we become a one-stop shop in the U.S. for specialist nonfiction, from language learning to business coaching, special needs parenting to special needs children’s books, books on faith to books on social justice, health and wellness guides to guides on nutrition, medical conditions, and getting older. New communities and new needs will always reveal themselves. We intend to be there when they do.