Big, big news

Filed by: Darren on March 26, 2008 at 9:32
Filed In: Books, Marketing, Work

As announced on the Orbit Books website yesterday, I am utterly thrilled to have been hired as Orbit's new (online) marketing exec!

I officially start on April 7th, although as you can imagine there are plenty of emails flying back and forth already. And I'm not exactly a stranger to the Orbit offices, having worked on a few projects for George and the team already, including websites for Brian Ruckley, Philip Palmer and, of course, Iain [M] Banks.

It's an incredibly exciting opportunity and one that I know I'll enjoy getting stuck in to immensely: Orbit are one of the UK's largest and most forward-looking sf / f imprints and I'll be given the chance to work on a very wide range of online projects and promotions, with a bewildering array of global genre fiction talent, including some of the very best UK authors; established names and rising stars alike. Calling it the opportunity of a lifetime really wouldn't be a case of hyperbole on my part...

Of course, this does mean that I'm going to have to give up my freelance status and the work I've been doing with my non-Orbit clients. Letting everyone know has been a bit of a wrench, but every single one of the folks I spent a total of about five hours on the phone to yesterday were nothing short of delighted for me, and everyone has wished me nothing less than huge success in the future.

I've also been talking to someone who I think would make an ideal replacement webguy and all the clients I've mentioned the possibility to so far have been very keen on the idea. So, all being well, a successful handover will hopefully happen smoothly and quite soon.

Blogging-wise... let's just say that I'm reviewing the situation on an ongoing basis. I think The Genre Files may end up going into some sort of hibernation. Personally, I think it would be very difficult for me to post regular book reviews across a wide range of publishers' and authors' work. I suspect the implied bias of my position at Orbit will impinge on the perceived neutrality of my opinion to the point of rendering the exercise largely meaningless.

UK SF Book News will continue for the foreseeable future. Sandy and I were already working on plans to re-vamp the site again, putting an even stronger emphasis on news aggregation, link posting and original interview material. Our aim is to spread as much of the word as we can get our hands on as far and wide as we possibly can whilst providing as much original interview content as we have time for. The site will also become ad-free and affiliate-free, but then that's no bad thing as the time saved by not having to add affiliate info to items will mean more content posted in the long run.

Beyond that, who knows? I'm always coming up with ideas for new blog-based projects. I'll just have to see how much time is available once I've settled into my new role.

Wish me luck! :D

Filed on: March 26, 2008
Filed under: Books, Marketing, Work
Tagged with: new job | Orbit-Books |

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19 Responses to 'Big, big news'

James on March 26th, 2008 11:09 am

Congratulations! Sounds like a pretty cool job to me.
Niall on March 26th, 2008 11:44 am

Congratulations! Although your reviews will be missed, if you do stop.
gav (nextread) on March 26th, 2008 11:54 am

I would wish you luck but you don't need it. You'll be a great asset!

You'll just have to start reviewing cornflakes or something non-related. How does that sound. I look forward to all the insider gossip ;)

gav.
Joe Abercrombie on March 26th, 2008 12:52 pm

Congratulations again,

Thanks with all your help and support at my site, anyway, and all the best in the new role.
thrinidir on March 26th, 2008 1:18 pm

Darren, this really are big big news! I wish you best of luck, but your reviews will be missed if you decide to give them up :)

congratulations again!
thrinidir
John D. on March 26th, 2008 1:49 pm

Best of luck, Ariel! :)
Chris on March 26th, 2008 4:17 pm

... if you hear of any editorial vacancies. ;-)

'Tis definitely a step in the right direction and thoroughly deserved.

So, will we be seeing more Wordpress-y/blogging-type stuff coming from the Orbit stable?
Cheryl on March 26th, 2008 4:17 pm

Nice job!
Darren on March 26th, 2008 4:25 pm

Thank you to everyone for the best wishes, all very much appreciated... :)

Gav - "Crunchy-munchy goodness in every spoonful. The honey/nut cross-genre variant was a particular treat." :)

Joe - You're welcome, and it's been a very definite pleasure.

Chris - I imagine there will be a certain amount of Orbit-flavoured Wordpressy goodness occurring, yes... ;)
dakegra on March 26th, 2008 4:45 pm

fantastic news, well done!

Of course, if you need to subcontract out any book reviews...

:-)
Aidan from A Dribble of Ink on March 27th, 2008 2:46 am

Congrats!

It's nice to see the hard work paying dividends! Can't wait to see where you take Orbit from here.

~Aidan
A Dribble of Ink
Robert on March 27th, 2008 6:30 pm

That's incredible news Darren! And from what I've seen of your work, you definitely deserve it. Congratulations and best of luck!
Sara J. on March 28th, 2008 1:15 am

That's great, congrats!
Jason/HvonD on March 28th, 2008 6:44 pm

Congrats, Darren, Orbit's gaining a great asset. Nicely done, sir!
David H. on March 29th, 2008 12:50 am

Wow, great news, mate! Congratulations and good luck.
Darren on March 29th, 2008 9:15 am

Well, a big 'thank you!' again to everyone who's left congrats since the first one :)

Just over a week to go...
mhayinde on March 29th, 2008 1:21 pm

Congratulations! Brilliant news!
Pádraig Ó Méalóid on April 11th, 2008 3:02 pm

Very good! no better man for the job, of course.
GFS3 on May 8th, 2008 10:05 pm

Well, they certainly hired the right guy!

Congratulations on the new spot.