Archives for March 2006

New On the Beat, New on the Job Taking over publishing coverage at the NYT is Motoko Rich, who has been covering “real estate trends” since joining the paper in 2003. Before that, the 1991 Yale grad she worked at the WSJ and the FT. Bloomberg Press has hired Judy Sjo-Gaber as director of special markets and corporate sales. Most recently, she was at Weekly Reader Publishing. Additionally, Janet Coleman has joined the press as senior developmental editor. A freelance writer and editor for the past seven years, she previously worked for numerous publishers and Forbes magazine. At Simon & […]

Personnel News At Ballantine, Mark Tavani has been promoted to senior editor. In announcing the news, publisher LIbby McGuire notes Tavani’s work in nurturing bestselling author of THE TEMPLAR LEGACY Steve Berry: “Mark spotted Steve Berry’s exceptional potental and built him in four books from an unknown writer with 85 rejections to a major NYT bestseller, and he did it in the old fashioned way, book by book. Mark has a winning combination of enthusiasm, wisdom, unflappable good nature, and great talent as an editor.” At Basic, Tim Brazier has joined he company as publicity manager. He was a senior […]

Steroid-Book Serial Targets Bonds The forthcoming book GAME OF SHADOWS from San Francisco Chroncile reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams is serialized in a Sports Illustrated cover story and delivers a thorough account of Barry Bonds’ alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs over a number of years, providing “sometimes day-to-day, drug-by-drug detail how often and how deeply Bonds engaged in the persistent doping.” The book will be published on March 27. SI.com VNU Buyout Terms Announced, Though Shareholders May Resist VNU has agreed to a buyout worth 8.6 billion euros from a consortium of private equity groups. For now the new […]

Fehr to Leave in Smithsonian Reorganization In a reorganization of the joint publishing program between the Smithsonian Institution and HarperCollins, the role of Smithsonian Books publisher has been eliminated and Don Fehr will be departing. Elizabeth Dyssegaard will run the Smithsonian Books editorial office in New York, and Smithsonian Business Ventures has named Carolyn Gleason to the Washington, DC-based post of director of Smithsonian Books. SBV head Gary Beer says in a statement: “Don Fehr played an important role in the transition from Smithsonian Press to our joint publishing program with HarperCollins, and we are grateful for his contribution. The […]

The Beginning of the London Book Fair Neither heat (of the hall), nor rain of protests (from anti-Reed agitators) nor dimness of wireless Internet access (which barely worked, or didn’t work at all) could delay the London Book Fair from making its move to new quarters and once again welcoming publishers from the around the world to trade rights and more. Around the world is still the operative phrase for Sunday, where one longstanding tradition — in which many of London’s most prominent editors and executive elect not to attend — appears to be as vibrant as ever. The aisles […]

Schedules and Such Weather permitting, Lunch heads to London tonight, and will not be published tomorrow. We will post regularly from the Fair, both at PublishersMarketplace.com and via e-mail, though the exact schedule always comes together on the fly. We’ll have a big deal round-up ready on Sunday night as usual, and constant deal reports as news comes in. (As noted earlier, there should be market-priced wireless Internet access at Excel, so feel free to post deal bulletins while you’re at the show.) I’ve received about a dozen e-mails with different versions of schedules of LBF seminars and events and […]