Private company

Orbit

Logo: From the company's website: http://www.orbitbooks.net/, Non-free logo, via Wikipedia3

International publisher that specialises in science fiction and fantasy books

Orbit Books is an international publisher that specialises in science fiction and fantasy books. It is a division of Hachette Book Group, owned by Lagardère Publishing.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 20, 2026.

Overview

1974Founded1

Orbit Books is an international publisher that specialises in science fiction and fantasy books. It is a division of Hachette Book Group, owned by Lagardère Publishing.2

The story

Orbit Books was founded in 1974 as part of the Macdonald Futura publishing company. In 1992, its parent company was bought by Little, Brown & Co., at that stage part of the Time Warner Book Group (now Hachette Book Group). In 1997, Orbit acquired the Legend imprint from Random House.

In 2006, Orbit's parent company Little, Brown was sold by Time Warner to the French publishing group Hachette Livre.

By summer 2006, Orbit began to expand internationally, with the establishment of Orbit imprints in the United States and Australia. Orbit Publishing Director Tim Holman relocated to New York to establish Orbit US as an imprint of Hachette Book Group. In June 2007, Orbit appointed Bernadette Foley as publisher for Orbit Australia, an imprint of Hachette Livre Australia. In 2009 Orbit expanded to France, used by the publisher Calman Levy.

Orbit Books planned to publish a horror novel titled Shy Girl in 2026, but ultimately cancelled the publication following widespread allegations that it was written using generative AI.

From Wikipedia’s article on Orbit Books, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Subsidiaries and ownership

Owners

From Wikidata.1

Timeline

  1. 1974Founded Founded1

Sources

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