About Us
Founded by Jason Williams in 1997, Night Shade Books has been publishing science fiction, fantasy and horror for over a decade. Shortly after its founding, Jeremy Lassen (who had been fiddling around with his own publishing efforts) came on board as a partner, and the two “J”s have been roaring forward ever since. From the beginning, Jason and Jeremy saw Night Shade as a publisher of trade paperbacks and hard covers. The goal was to emulate other independent trade publishers of genre fiction… Tor, or DAW or Baen. Back when the Night Shade schedule was made up of 3-4 titles a year, this goal seemed ludicrously far away, and was usually only mentioned in private (or in April Fools’ Day jokes), lest the rest of the industry find Night Shade’s ambitions a bit silly. Ten years, and over a hundred books later, and Night Shade has become a significant publisher of genre fiction. 2007 saw the publication of Night Shade’s first mass market paperback (serendipitously, being the company’s 100th title), and 2008 marks the beginning of an ambitious schedule of mass market paperbacks, complementing the existing range of hard covers and trade paperbacks.
Night Shade’s titles are distributed nationally by Diamond Book Distribution, and are available from better bookstores throughout North America. Some of Night Shade’s titles are available in the UK, via normal book distribution channels.
Night Shade currently publishes about 30-35 titles a year, and appears regularly at genre conventions. In fact, the one sure way to meet the “J”s is to go to the annual World Fantasy Convention, which, according to Jeremy and Jason, is actually the annual Night Shade birthday party. The first Night Shade title, The Necronomicon Files, was released at the World Fantasy Convention in Monterey, California. Night Shade’s first retail customer at this world fantasy convention was Gahan Wilson, who wandered up to the table, which had a stack of exactly one title on it, and said “A book about the Necronomicon? I’ll definitely take one of those!” The rest is a history that is still being written.
Night Shade Books is dedicated to publishing quality books, from a broad spectrum of genres. Writing that inspires a sense of awe and wonder. Writing that explores the fantastic. Writing that at once challenges and redefines a reader’s expectations. These are the guiding editorial principles at Night Shade Books.
We are committed to finding the right reader for the right book, and the right book for the right reader. This is no easy task. It is, however, a very important task that we do not undertake lightly.
To request review copies of our books, arrange interviews with our authors, and for other publicity inquiries, contact our publicity department at publicity@nightshadebooks.com.
