Marcus Gipps: American Versus British Publishing & THE WITCHER to Romantasy

Marcus Gipps joins us for Episode 17 of Unedited. We trace his career in books, beginning as a sales manager at the flagship Blackwell’s store on Charing Cross Road, followed by his journey up the publishing ladder at one of the UK's oldest and most venerable sci-fi/fantasy houses, Gollancz, which is approaching its centenary. We also recount some of the authors he has worked with, including Andrzej Sapkowski (of The Witcher fame), Joe Hill, Michael Moorcock, and Stephen Baxter. We discuss whether romantasy is a new genre or simply old wine in new (and much, much bigger) bottles, what the commonalities and critical destinations are between North American and British publishing, and why writers shouldn't follow the market and should instead write from a place of personal passion.

Marcus Gipps is a British books editor. He joined Gollancz in 2011, where he divided his time between working on classic sci-fi/fantasy—including the complete update and republication of Michael Moorcock’s body of work—and publishing original novels. Marcus was identified as a 2012 Bookseller Rising Star, and became Publishing Director of Gollancz in 2020, where his authors included Andrzej Sapkowski (The Witcher), Joe Hill, Stephen Baxter, and Stephen Donaldson. Marcus joined The Broken Binding as part time publishing director in April 2025, while remaining as Editor-at-large at Gollancz, also part time.