Rebellion is delighted to welcome one of the most influential figures in US publishing to its editorial team – Jim Killen, former Barnes & Noble buyer for science ficiton, fantasy and graphic novels.
Jim will join Rebellion Publishing’s fiction team as Editor-at-Large, based out of New York, from Monday 19 October.
A legend in the worlds of science fiction and fantasy, graphic novels and role playing games, Jim identified and helped to build the careers of countless authors and artists, including Neil Gaiman, V.E. Schwab, Marjorie Liu, Kim Harrison, and George R.R. Martin.
One of the most respected and influential figures in publishing, Jim joins Rebellion Publishing at an exciting time. The international publisher, based out of Oxford in the UK, continues to celebrate success with critically-acclaimed titles such as Yoon Ha Lee’s Machineries of Empire trilogy, Derek Künksen’s Quantum Evolution series, Mary Robinette Kowal’s Hugo and Nebula award-winning Calculating Stars and Chuck Wendig’s Wanderers. The publisher has doubled in size in the last three years, successfully expanding its fiction, graphic novel and non-fiction lists.
Jim said: “I’ve been a fan of Rebellion for some time. I’m glad to call it my new home.”
Ben Smith, Head of Film, TV & Publishing at Rebellion, said: “Jim Killen is not only one of the best informed people in the US genre scene, but he has been a strong supporter at Barnes and Noble for Rebellion’s books over the last decade. Our respect for his knowledge and insight has meant that I have long wanted to tempt Jim over to fence into publishing. I am delighted he is starting a new chapter in his highly respected career with Rebellion and look forward with great anticipation to the impact he will have on our list and performance. Being based in New York Jim is perfectly situated to engage with our US agent colleagues, our distributor Simon and Schuster and the wider industry. As Rebellion’s publishing lists continue to expand we are thrilled to have Jim join us at such an exciting moment.”
In 1998 Jim became Science Fiction, Fantasy, Role Playing Games and Graphic Novels buyer at American book chain Barnes and Noble. Over the following years he took genres and mediums that had been ignored and sidelined, and helped build them into major categories that now regularly dominate bestseller lists.
During his time at Barnes and Noble, sales of graphic novels and manga grew by 1,500 per cent and as a result, in 2015 the firm took the unprecedented move of doubling the space of graphic novels in every one of its locations.
He has appeared on the Top 100 most influential people in comics list every year since 2012, the only African American to do so, and in January 2018 he was named in Bleeding Cool’s Top 100 Power list of the comic industry’s most influential people.
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