{{Short description|United States book publisher}} {{Distinguish|Tor (network)}} {{Use American English|date=January 2023}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2023}} {{Infobox publisher | image = Tor Books 2016.svg | image_size = 200px | caption = The 2016 logo | parent = Tor Publishing Group<br />ultimately [[Macmillan Publishers]] | status = | founded = {{start date and age|1980|4|2}} | founder = {{plainlist| * [[Tom Doherty]] * [[Harriet McDougal]] * [[Jim Baen]]}} | successor = | country = United States | headquarters = [[Equitable Building (Manhattan)|Equitable Building]], New York City | distribution = [[Tor Book Publishers]] (US)<br />Melia Publishing Services (UK)<ref name=Melia/> | keypeople = Tom Doherty | publications = Books, [[E-book|e-books]] | topics = | genre = | imprints = Forge, Starscape, Tor Teen, Orb, Tordotcom, Nightfire, Bramble | revenue = | numemployees = | nasdaq = | url = {{URL|torpublishinggroup.com/imprints/tor-books/}} }}
'''Tor Books''' is the primary [[imprint (trade name)|imprint]] of Tor Publishing Group (previously [[Tom Doherty]] Associates),<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 8, 2022 |title=Tom Doherty Associates Is Now Tor Publishing Group |url=https://www.tor.com/2022/08/08/tom-doherty-associates-is-now-tor-publishing-group/ |access-date=August 8, 2022 |website=Tor.com |language=en-US}}</ref> a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles.
==History== Tor was founded by [[Tom Doherty]] in 1980, with [[Harriet McDougal]] and [[Jim Baen]] joining him from Ace as the editorial staff. (Baen and Doherty founded [[Baen Books]] three years later.) They were soon joined by Barbara Doherty and Katherine Pendill, who then composed the original startup team.
''[[Wikt:tor|Tor]]'' is a word meaning a rocky pinnacle,<ref name=dict/> as depicted in Tor's logo.<ref name=logo/> Tor Books was sold to [[St. Martin's Press]] in 1987. Along with St. Martin's Press; [[Henry Holt and Company|Henry Holt]]; and [[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]], it became part of the [[Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group|Holtzbrinck]] group, now part of [[Macmillan Publishers (United States)|Macmillan]] in the US.<ref name=SFE/>
In June 2019, Tor and other Macmillan imprints moved from the [[Flatiron Building]], to larger offices in the [[Equitable Building (Manhattan)|Equitable Building]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 2, 2019 |title=Macmillan's Move |url=https://locusmag.com/2019/06/macmillans-move/ |access-date=June 23, 2019 |website=Locus |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Minotaur Books on Instagram: 'Getting all settled into our brand new Minotaur HQ ✨ . . #mystery #thriller #suspense #bookstagram #minotaurbooks' |url=https://www.instagram.com/p/By6CY7ZAQF4/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/s/instagram/By6CY7ZAQF4 |archive-date=December 26, 2021 |url-access=registration|access-date=June 23, 2019 |publisher=Instagram |language=en}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
==Imprints== Tor is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group.<ref name=AboutTorUK/> The Forge imprint publishes an array of fictional titles, including historical novels and thrillers. The Nightfire imprint publishes horror, largely but not exclusively with science fiction and fantasy elements. The Bramble imprint publishes romance and romantic stories with elements of other genres.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mission Statements |url=https://torpublishinggroup.com/mission-statements/ |access-date=Feb 3, 2025 |website=Tor Publishing Group |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250204045710/https://torpublishinggroup.com/mission-statements/ |archive-date=Feb 4, 2025}}</ref> Tor Books has two imprints for young readers: Starscape (for readers 10 years of age and up) and Tor Teen (for readers 13 years of age and up).<ref name=TorForgeMac/> The Tordotcom imprint focuses on short works such as [[novella]]s, shorter novels and serializations.<ref name=imprint/>
A United Kingdom sister imprint, Tor UK, specializes in science fiction, fantasy, and horror, and publishes young-adult crossover fiction based on computer-game franchises.<ref name=AboutTorUK/> Tor UK briefly maintained an open submission policy, which ended in January 2013.<ref name=TorUKClosed/>
[[Orb Books]] publishes science-fiction classics such as [[A. E. van Vogt]]'s ''[[Slan]]''.
Tor Teen publishes young-adult novels such as [[Cory Doctorow]]'s ''[[Little Brother (Doctorow novel)|Little Brother]]'' and repackages novels such as [[Orson Scott Card]]'s ''[[Ender's Game]]'' for younger readers.
Tor Labs produces [[podcast]]s.<ref name=Liptak2017/>
A German sister imprint, Fischer Tor, was founded in August 2016 as an imprint of [[S. Fischer Verlag]] (which also belongs to Holtzbrinck Publishing Group).<ref name=Fischer/> It publishes international titles translated into German, as well as original German works. Fischer Tor also publishes the German online magazine ''Tor Online'', which is based on the same concept as the English ''[[Reactor (magazine)|Tor.com]]'' online magazine, but has its own independent content.<ref name=Fischer/>
==Authors== [[Image:Tor-Logo1.jpg|thumb|upright|The logo used until 2015]] Authors published by Tor and Forge include: * [[Kevin J. Anderson]] * [[Kage Baker]] * [[Ben Bova]] * [[Gerald Brom|Brom]] * [[Steven Brust]] * [[Orson Scott Card]] * [[Jonathan Carroll]] * [[Myke Cole]] * [[Charles de Lint]] * [[Philip K. Dick]] * [[Cory Doctorow]] * [[Steven Erikson]] * [[Sarah Gailey]] * [[Terry Goodkind]] * [[Steven Gould]] * [[Alex Grecian]] * [[Eileen Gunn]] * [[James E. Gunn]] * [[Brian Herbert]] * [[Glen Hirshberg]] * [[TJ Klune]] * [[Robert Jordan]] * [[Sherrilyn Kenyon]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Sherrilyn Kenyon, Author |url=https://torpublishinggroup.com/author/sherrilyn-kenyon/ |access-date=Feb 3, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240524125355/https://torpublishinggroup.com/author/sherrilyn-kenyon/ |archive-date=May 24, 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref> * [[Mary Robinette Kowal]] * [[George R. R. Martin]] * [[Arkady Martine]] * [[Richard Matheson]] * [[L. E. Modesitt, Jr.]] * [[Tamsyn Muir]] * [[Andre Norton]] * [[Harold Robbins]] * [[Brandon Sanderson]] * [[John Scalzi]] * [[V. E. Schwab]] * [[Lucy A. Snyder]] * [[Martha Wells]] * [[Skyler White (writer)|Skyler White]] * [[Gene Wolfe]].<ref name=TorForgeMac/>
Tor UK has published authors such as [[Douglas Adams]], Rjurik Davidson, [[Amanda Hocking]], [[China Miéville]], [[Adam Nevill]], and [[Adrian Tchaikovsky]].<ref name=AboutTorUK/>
==Ebooks== Tor publishes a range of its works as [[Ebook|ebooks]] and, in 2012, Doherty announced that his imprints would sell only [[Digital rights management#DRM-free works|DRM-free]] ebooks by July of that year.<ref name=TorDRMfree2012/> One year later, Tor stated that the removal of DRM had not harmed its ebook business, so they would continue selling them DRM-free.<ref name=TorDRMfree2013/>
In July 2018, Macmillan Publishers and Tor prompted a boycott spread across social media websites and library bulletin boards after they announced that Tor's e-books would no longer be made available for libraries to purchase and lend to borrowers, via digital distribution services such as [[OverDrive, Inc.|OverDrive]], until four months after their initial publication date.<ref name=Hoffelder/> The company cited the "direct and adverse impact" of electronic lending on retail eBook sales but suggested that the change was part of a "test program" and could be reevaluated.<ref name=Hoffelder/><ref name=UpperArlington/>
==Accolades== Tor won the [[Locus Award for Best Publisher|Locus Award]] for Best Science Fiction Publisher in 36 years from 1988 to 2024 inclusive.<ref name=Locuspoll/>
In March 2014, ''Worlds Without End'' listed Tor as the second-most awarded and nominated publisher of science fiction, fantasy and horror books, after [[Victor Gollancz Ltd#Transition to science fiction and fantasy genres|Gollancz]].<ref name=WWE2014/> At that time, Tor had received 316 nominations and 54 wins for 723 published novels, written by 197 authors.<ref name=WWE2014/> In the following year, Tor surpassed Gollancz to become the top publisher on the list.<ref name=WWE2015/>
By March 2018, Tor's record had increased to 579 nominations and 111 wins, across 16 tracked awards given in the covered genres, with a total of 2,353 published novels written by 576 authors.<ref name=WWE2018/>
==References== {{Reflist|30em|refs= <ref name="AboutTorUK">{{Cite web |year=2014 |title=About Tor UK – A Blog from the Tor UK Team and Authors |url=http://www.torbooks.co.uk/about-us/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170724065242/http://www.torbooks.co.uk/about-us/ |archive-date=July 24, 2017 |website=Tor UK |publisher=Pan Macmillan}}</ref> <ref name="dict">{{Cite Dictionary.com|tor|access-date=March 21, 2018 }}</ref> <ref name="Fischer">{{Cite web |year=2016 |title=Fischer Tor |url=https://www.fischerverlage.de/verlage/fischer_tor |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170819085509/http://www.fischerverlage.de/verlage/fischer_tor |archive-date=August 19, 2017 |website=S. Fischer Verlage |language=de}}</ref> <ref name="Hoffelder">{{Cite web |last=Hoffelder |first=Nate |date=July 19, 2018 |title=Updated: Tor Books is Now Windowing Library eBooks |url=https://the-digital-reader.com/2018/07/19/tor-books-is-now-windowing-library-ebooks/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180827210215/https://the-digital-reader.com/2018/07/19/tor-books-is-now-windowing-library-ebooks/ |archive-date=August 27, 2018 |website=The Digital Reader}}</ref> <ref name="imprint">{{Cite web |date=May 28, 2014 |title=Announcing Tor.com the Imprint |url=http://www.tor.com/blogs/2014/05/announcing-torcom-the-imprint |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180124084759/https://www.tor.com/2014/05/28/announcing-torcom-the-imprint/ |archive-date=January 24, 2018 |website=Tor.com |publisher=Macmillan}}</ref> <ref name="Liptak2017">{{Cite web |last=Liptak |first=Andrew |date=May 2, 2017 |title=Tor Books announces a new fiction imprint dedicated to experimental storytelling |url=https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/2/15501178/tor-labs-storytelling-podcast-steal-the-sky |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924045145/https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/2/15501178/tor-labs-storytelling-podcast-steal-the-sky |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |website=[[The Verge]]}}</ref> <ref name="Locuspoll">{{Cite web |title=Locus Award Winners by Category – Publishers |url=http://www.sfadb.com/Locus_Awards_Winners_By_Category#pub |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904020109/http://www.sfadb.com/Locus_Awards_Winners_By_Category#pub |archive-date=September 4, 2017 |website=The Science Fiction Awards Database}}</ref> <ref name="logo">{{Cite magazine |last=Mangu-Ward |first=Katherine |date=December 2008 |title=Tor's Worlds Without Death or Taxes |url=http://reason.com/archives/2008/11/13/tors-worlds-without-death-or-t |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170811142821/http://reason.com/archives/2008/11/13/tors-worlds-without-death-or-t |archive-date=August 11, 2017 |journal=[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]]}}</ref> <ref name="Melia">{{Cite web |title=List of client publishers |url=http://www.melia.co.uk/page/publishers/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171227123536/http://www.melia.co.uk/page/publishers/ |archive-date=December 27, 2017 |website=Melia Publishing Services}}</ref> <ref name="SFE">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction |url=http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com |date=December 20, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180321003613/http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/tor_books |archive-date=March 21, 2018 |entry=Tor Books |chapter-url=http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/tor_books |url-status=live}}</ref> <ref name="TorDRMfree2012">{{Cite web |date=April 24, 2012 |title=Tor/Forge E-book Titles to Go DRM-Free |url=http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/04/torforge-e-book-titles-to-go-drm-free |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180309172101/https://www.tor.com/2012/04/24/torforge-e-book-titles-to-go-drm-free/ |archive-date=March 9, 2018 |website=Tor.com |publisher=Macmillan}}</ref> <ref name="TorDRMfree2013">{{Cite web |last=Geuss |first=Megan |date=May 4, 2013 |title=Tor Books says cutting DRM out of its e-books hasn't hurt the business – A look at the sci-fi publisher a year after it announced it would do away with DRM |url=https://arstechnica.com/business/2013/05/tor-books-says-cutting-drm-out-of-its-e-books-hasnt-hurt-business/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180321182637/https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/05/tor-books-says-cutting-drm-out-of-its-e-books-hasnt-hurt-business/ |archive-date=March 21, 2018 |website=[[Ars Technica]] |quote=Early this week, Tor Books, a subsidiary of Tom Doherty Associates and the world's leading publisher of science fiction, gave an update on how its decision to do away with Digital Rights Management (DRM) schemes has impacted the company. Long story short: it hasn't, really.}}</ref> <ref name="TorForgeMac">{{Cite web |year=2014 |title=Tor/Forge |url=http://us.macmillan.com/splash/publishers/tor-forge.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171128161319/https://us.macmillan.com/publishers/tor-forge |archive-date=November 28, 2017 |website=MacMillan Publishers |publisher=Macmillan}}</ref> <ref name="TorUKClosed">{{Cite web |date=January 29, 2013 |title=Submitting a Novel to Tor UK |url=https://www.panmacmillan.com/blogs/science-fiction-and-fantasy/submitting-a-novel-to-tor-uk |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180321181752/https://www.panmacmillan.com/blogs/science-fiction-and-fantasy/submitting-a-novel-to-tor-uk |archive-date=March 21, 2018 |website=Blogs – Science Fiction and Fantasy |publisher=Pan Macmillan}}</ref> <ref name="UpperArlington">{{Cite web |date=July 17, 2018 |title=Statement Release Regarding TOR Digital Books |url=https://www.ualibrary.org/mediasrvc/blog/statement-release-regarding-tor-digital-books |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180825075453/https://www.ualibrary.org/mediasrvc/blog/statement-release-regarding-tor-digital-books |archive-date=August 25, 2018 |website=Upper Arlington Public Library}}</ref> <ref name="WWE2014">{{Cite web |year=2014 |title=Top Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror (SF/F/H) Publishers |url=https://www.worldswithoutend.com/publishers.asp |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140331110825/https://www.worldswithoutend.com/publishers.asp |archive-date=March 31, 2014 |website=Worlds Without End}}</ref> <ref name="WWE2015">{{Cite web |year=2015 |title=Top Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror (SF/F/H) Publishers |url=http://www.worldswithoutend.com/publishers.asp |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150322204055/https://www.worldswithoutend.com/publishers.asp |archive-date=March 22, 2015 |website=Worlds Without End}}</ref> <ref name="WWE2018">{{Cite web |year=2018 |title=Top Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror (SF/F/H) Publishers |url=http://www.worldswithoutend.com/publishers.asp |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180321160746/https://www.worldswithoutend.com/publishers.asp |archive-date=March 21, 2018 |website=Worlds Without End}}</ref> }}
==External links== * [https://www.fischerverlage.de/verlage/fischer_tor Official website] (German) * [https://www.panmacmillan.com/blogs/science-fiction-and-fantasy Official website] (UK) * [https://us.macmillan.com/publishers/tom-doherty-associates Official website] (US) * [http://www.reason.com/news/show/129996.html Tor Books profile] at ''[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]]'', December 2008 * [http://www.tor-online.de ''Tor Online'' community site] (German) * [http://www.tor.com/ ''Tor.com'' community site]
{{Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group}} {{Authority control}}
[[Category:American speculative fiction publishers]] [[Category:Book publishing companies based in New York (state)]] [[Category:Science fiction publishers]] [[Category:Fantasy book publishers]] [[Category:Weird fiction publishers]] [[Category:Publishing companies based in New York City]] [[Category:Publishing companies established in 1980]] [[Category:St. Martin's Press]] [[Category:Holtzbrinck Publishing Group]]