Carlsen Publishing House

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Carlsen Publishing House

logo
legal form GmbH
Seat Hamburg , Germany
management Renate Herre (publisher), Joachim Kaufmann
Branch publishing company
Website www.carlsen.de

Carlsen publishing house in Hamburg-Ottensen

The Hamburg-based Carlsen Verlag belongs to the Swedish media company Bonnier AB . His focus is on comics ( mangas ), children's books and youth literature (including Harry Potter ). In these areas he is one of the leading publishers in Germany. The managing directors are Renate Herre (as publisher) and Joachim Kaufmann.

Königskinder Verlag was founded as a sub-publisher in 2014 .

history

Carlsen Comics series logo (2012)

Carlsen Verlag was founded on April 25, 1953 by Per Hjald Carlsen in Hamburg as a subsidiary of the Danish Illustrationsforlaget / PIB. Initially, the program consisted primarily of books about the bear Petzi and his friends, which have already been successfully printed in various German daily newspapers. In 1954 the first Pixi books appeared in the format 10 × 10 cm.

In 1967 the publisher started its comic book program with the first album from the Tim und Struppi series . The program was initially expanded to include traditional Franco-Belgian series such as Alix , Blake and Mortimer , Valerian and Veronique and The Smurfs . At the beginning of the 1980s, among others, Spirou and Fantasio , the adventures of the office messenger Gaston and Leonardo, added to the program. With the sub-publisher Semic , some albums were published as discounted kiosk editions. The production was continuously expanded; In 1989 Carlsen released several albums monthly.

Edition ComicArt was founded in the early 1980s under editor Eckart Sackmann , a comic section for adult readers. Sackmann's successor, Andreas C. Knigge, shaped the comic program for many years and ensured an immense expansion of this area. In 1987/88 the publisher tried to establish its own magazine , Moxxito, on the market, which was discontinued after six issues. In 1989, after 24 years, the publishing house moved from Reinbek back to Hamburg-Ottensen. In addition to Franco-Belgian comics , DC Comics published superhero comics as paperbacks in the early 1990s . Mainly independent special editions, so-called One Shots , were translated. Frank Miller's work The Dark Knight Returns received special attention . Carlsen Verlag tried at the same time to establish series of magazines from Buffy - The Vampire Slayer , Angel - Hunters of Darkness , Godzilla and the X-Files .

Knigges successor was Joachim Kaps. During the period in which Knigge decided to publish the manga Dragonball in Japanese reading direction (from right to left), a manga boom was triggered.

At the beginning of 2002 the Carlsen Verlag bought the name and various author rights of the small publishing house B&L (the other series of the B&L publishing house were transferred to the BSE publishing house ). B&L was continued at Carlsen as a label for funny adult comics and supplemented by further series. In 2006, B&L merged into the new Carlsen Cartoon and Humor division , which also includes the bestselling cartoons Non-funny by Joscha Sauer and Shit happens! by Ralph Ruthe appear.

Carlsen had the greatest success with the Harry Potter book series by Joanne K. Rowling . Even before the breakthrough of the sorcerer's apprentice, the publisher acquired the license for all seven volumes planned. This meant that the German cover illustrations did not have to comply with the requirements of the rights holder Warner Brothers . When it comes to marketing the books, the publisher also had a much freer hand than Potter publishers in other countries. To date, the Harry Potter volumes in German-speaking countries have had a total circulation of 30 million copies.

Carlsen is currently one of the three largest comic book publishers in Germany, and among the ten largest children's book publishers. The Danish Carlsen Verlag, from which the publisher originally emerged, was formerly part of Bonnier, but has been part of the international Egmont Foundation since 2007 after several sales . Thus, the publishers of the same name in Denmark and Germany are no longer linked as companies.

In autumn 2008, Carlsen Verlag founded the joint venture Chicken House Germany with the British children's book publisher The Chicken House, which belongs to the US Scholastic Corporation . In 2011, Carlsen took over from Verlagsgruppe Oetinger the Xenos Publishing Company and incorporated it to his imprint Nelson publishing house.

In 2012, Carlsen took over the children's media brand Terzio , including the famous stories of the "Rusty Knight". In addition to the multiple award-winning musical books with the rusty hero of the children's room, musical books on other topics are also published in this program area.

In autumn 2013, Carlsen launched two imprints in which exclusively digital books appear: Impress stands for emotional, rousing fantasy for adolescents and young adults from the popular genres Paranormal Romance, Coming-of-Age and New Adult. Instant Books, which was discontinued, stood for quick, drinkable reading, especially for adult readers with a penchant for 'thrill' and 'romance'.

In autumn 2014 Carlsen launched the new imprint Königskinder Verlag for children's books from the age of twelve, youth books and crossover titles . The sub-publisher was managed by Barbara König, who had been responsible for the narrative hardcover program in Carlsen's children's and youth book area since 2003. The program started with the novel Anders by Andreas Steinhöfel . Books from the program were praised by critics and received four nominations for the German Youth Literature Prize . At the end of September 2017, Carlsen Verlag announced the dissolution of the Königskinder imprint "in view of the sales figures" ; after 42 titles, the last program will be delivered in spring 2018.

Also in autumn 2014, Carlsen launched the new LeYo! and with the LeYo books the starting shot for the first multimedia library for children. In connection with the LeYo! App turns lovingly designed books into interactive multimedia stories that children can playfully develop at their own pace.

Since January 2015, Lappan Verlag , part of Salzer Holding GmbH, has been taken over by Carlsen Verlag Hamburg. The humor division will continue to be operated from Oldenburg.

At the Frankfurt Book Fair 2016, the publisher was awarded the Virus Thrower Prize .

Since October 2016 there is another digital label called Dark Diamonds in the area of ​​New Adult Fantasy. Dark Diamonds addresses an older target group in the fantasy and romance genres than the similar digital label Impress.

Further publications by Carlsen Verlag

Overview comic series

Out of print documentation

  • Batem, Verhoest and Cambier: All About the Marsupilami , Carlsen 1993.
  • Horst Schröder: worlds of images and world views. SF Comics in the USA, Germany, England and France ., Carlsen 1982.
  • Andreas Knigge (Hrsg.): Comic Jahrbuch 1990 , Carlsen 1990.
  • Andreas Knigge (Ed.): Comic Jahrbuch 1991 , Carlsen 1991.
  • Scott McCloud: Reading Comics Correctly , Carlsen 1994.
  • Hugo Pratt: Corto Maltese-From the life of an adventurer , Carlsen 1992,
  • Horst Schröder: The first comics - newspaper comics in the USA from the turn of the century to the 30s , Carlsen 1981.
  • Jean Annestay: The Secrets of Incal , Carlsen 1991.
  • Numa Sadoul: The great André Franquin book , Carlsen 1989.
  • Andreas Knigge (Ed.): The great Hal Foster book , Carlsen 1992.
  • Numa Sadoul: The Great Moebius Book , Carlsen 1992.
  • Benoît Peeters: Hergé - A Life for Comics , Carlsen 1983.
  • Bill Blackbeard (Ed.): 100 Years of Comic Strips , 2 volumes, Carlsen 1995.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Publisher website: history
  2. Publishers: Carlsen takes over the Xenos brand . In: boersenblatt.net, March 16, 2011
  3. Carlsen starts new imprint , Börsenblatt des dt. Buchhandels dated June 13, 2013, accessed on October 23, 2014
  4. Carlsen closes Imprint in 2018. The last royal children come in spring. boersenblatt.net, September 29, 2017, accessed September 30, 2017 .
  5. ^ Tilman Spreckelsen: Hard times for the children's book: Deep water. www.faz.net, September 30, 2017, accessed September 30, 2017 .