Marie Coolman will join Hyperion as executive director of publicity, taking over the position recently vacated by Beth Gebhard. She has been director of publicity and marketing for Hudson Street Press, and was west coast director of publicity at Random House after eight years with the company before going to the Penguin Group. Coolman says in the announcement: “Publishing needs a new approach, and that’s why I’m so excited to be joining the Hyperion team. As content providers, we need to meet readers where they go for recommendations – whether that is a friend, a media outlet, a bookseller, a […]
Archives for October 2008
Early Reviews, Electronically
LibraryThing is among booklover sites with loyal audiences that has had success in helping publishers channel galleys to interested readers who are likely to post online/review the books. In October, for example, they’ve had available for request 1,670 copies of 55 titles. Now Sourcebooks is experimenting with an electronic offering: they are allowing up to 2,500 downloads of their recently published IN THE LAND OF INVISIBLE WOMEN to Library Thing members through the end of October.
Misunrepresented
Some time last year, before THE WHITE TIGER was published let alone in contention for the Booker Prize, debut author Aravind Adiga served notice that he was parting ways with his agent Jay Mandel at the William Morris Agency. That relatively unremarkable event didn’t become news until earlier this week when the Telegraph’s “Mandrake” misinterpreted that move to declare that Adiga “suddenly parted company” with agency after his big Booker win. And the paper compounded the error by asserting that Cathryn Summerhayes at WMA’s London office “has been widely credited with helping win.” Adiga tells an Indian news service, “The […]
Powell's New Look; BN.com Personalizes
The leading online site from an independent bookseller, Powells.com has introduced a broad redesign. In browsing the revamped site, we noticed that their admirable subscription program “Indiespensable”, which offers signed editions of specially selected books that come with some other “extra” (a cd; a special slipcase; etc.), continues to grow impressively. The first selection, Lydia Millet’s How the Dead Dream, had 200 copies offered. The newer selections, now Iain Banks’ The Crow Road, are moving approximately 750 copies.Powell’s changes Meanwhile, Barnes & Noble.com has gone social with a new personalized “My B&N” page that lets users catalog and display their […]
On Tony Hillerman, 83
Novelist Tony Hillerman died of pulmonary failure on Sunday. “Hillerman’s evocative novels, which describe people struggling to maintain ancient traditions in the modern world, touched millions of readers, who made them best sellers. But although the themes of his books were not overtly political, he wrote with a purpose, he often said, and that purpose was to instill in his readers a respect for Indian culture. The plots of his stories, while steeped in contemporary crime and its consequences, were invariably instructive about ancient tribal beliefs and customs, from purification rituals for a soldier returned from a foreign war to […]
Lunch Weekly for Monday, October 27
Deal Reports Just e-mail to deals@PublishersMarketplace if you aren’t using the online form linked below. Report a deal using the online form The Key As usual, the handy key to our Lunch deal categories. While all reports are always welcome, those that include a category will generally receive a higher listing when it comes time to put them all together. “nice deal” $1 – $49,000 “very nice deal” $50,000 – $99,000 “good deal” $100,000 – $250,000 “significant deal” $251,000 – $499,000 “major deal” $500,000 and up FICTION Debut Greg Olear’s TOTALLY KILLER, pitched as doing for the 90s what […]