Scholastic will acquire early childhood publisher Cottage Door Press for $71 million with the transaction closing at the end of 2026. Cottage Door will be integrated into Scholastic’s Children’s Book Group and will continue with its existing publishing team. Luna StoryTime products, Cottage Door’s line of interactive electronic toys will be spun off prior to closing and will not be part of the acquisition. Cottage Door Press had approximately $45 million in net revenue for the twelve months ending May 31 and was “strongly profitable.’ Scholastic expects the acquisition to be ‘accretive in its second year following close, including anticipated […]
People 9/29
New Books Publishing September 29
This week’s fiction releases include new novels by Hernan Diaz, Ayad Akhtar, Min Jin Lee, Deesha Philyaw, and John Grisham, while nonfiction includes work by Anand Giridharadas, Malcolm Gladwell, Kyle MacLachlan, and Evan Gershkovich, plus former Disney ceo Bob Chapek’s memoir. 28 works of fiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-fiction-publishing-september-29 29 works of nonfiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-nonfiction-publishing-september-29 Also publishing this week are new books by Bel Banta, Kathleen Kaufman, David McCloskey, Zoe Duhaime, and Meg Mason, all of which are excerpted in our Buzz Books 2026: Fall/Winter anthology, and by Lindsay Straube, which is excerpted in our Buzz Books 2026: Romance collection. […]
Sevier to Become HBG CEO as Shelley Returns to UK
Hachette Book Group announced major changes in leadership taking effect on January 1, 2027. Ben Sevier will become HBG ceo and Richard Kitson will be president & chief operating officer, global English language, Hachette. Current ceo of HBG and Hachette UK David Shelley will become executive chair of HBG and Hachette UK and global advisor to Hachette Livre ceo Arnaud Lagardère and deputy ceo Jean-Christophe Thiery. Shelley will “[work] on on new markets, global synergies, and M&A, amongst other topics,” according to a release. Shelley will move back to the UK and work among offices in London, New York, Madrid, and […]
The Edit: Featuring Sean deLone
Welcome back to The Edit, our monthly column about what everyone in publishing is reading. This month, we spoke to Atria editor Sean deLone, who writes the informative publishing Substack Dear Head of Mine (check out his recent post about the state of the nonfiction book market). For October, DeLone highlights Phantom Limb by Brian Evenson (Coffee House, 10/13). He writes, “I was recommended Brain Evenson’s stories in 2020 from a lovely production editor colleague and finally got around to reading him last year (if you recommend a book to an editor, we will read it…eventually)—he’s terrific. I’m about ready […]
Obituary: Edite Kroll
Agent Edite Kroll, 87, died at home in Maine on September 23 after a long illness. Born in 1939 in Germany, she started in publishing in London at Chatto & Windus. She moved to New York in 1965, working at Harper & Row with Charlotte Zolotow. She later opened up her own eponymous literary agency and represented clients including Shel Silverstein and Sandra Boynton. In 2018, Kroll transferred most of her clients and contacts to Victoria Wells at HG Literary, but continued agenting work until the week before her death. “She was the dearest mentor, friend, and source of inspiration […]