As usual, the British press is all over the map with their reports. The Times warns that “the entire Woolworths empire, including its stake in 2Entertain, the BBC joint venture, is likely to be in administration by the end of the week.” They add that “the BBC is trying to cut its initial 100 million pound offer to take full control of 2Entertain.” But the Guardian fires back with a spokeswoman for the BBC calling the threat of administration for 2Entertain “categorically untrue.” She adds, “Our view is it is not going to go into administration, you can’t put a […]
Archives for December 2008
People and Awards: $1 Mil "American Nobel"; Telegraph Editor Let Go
Two historians–Princeton’s Peter Robert Lamont Brown and Romila Thapar, emeritus professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University–will share the Library of Congress’s $1 million Kluge Prize. The award “honors lifetime achievement in studies not covered by the Nobel, including history, philosophy, politics, anthropology, sociology, religion, criticism in the arts and humanities, and linguistics.” Brown, called among “the greatest historians of the last three centuries,” is best-known for his book The World of Late Antiquity (Norton) and The Rise of Western Christendom (Wiley-Blackwell), while Thapar’s A History of India (Penguin) and Early India (U.of California Press “were breakthrough works, replacing a static view […]
Josh Marwell, Holiday Poet Laureate
Rather than another public service campaign, HarperCollins president of sales Josh Marwell aims to inspire his troops with a holiday poem. In part: For it’s books that make the best gifts of all,For every season from summer to fall.For Christmas, Hanukah, Diwali and Eid,Books are must gifts for all that can read! Now, Edgar! Now, Lennon! Now, Marley and Wally!On, Collins! On, Wicked! On, Fancy! On, Nancy!To the top of those lists! To huge POS! Now sell away! Sell away! Sell away all!Let’s not give up hope for the season now here.Books are winners, so don’t shed a tear.Consumers are […]
The Week of Laughter and Forgetting
Maybe it’s a byproduct of all that turkey eating, as this week has seen a veritable feast of ridiculous “advice” from all over for publishers. We’re all accustomed to every American adult believing they are an author-in-waiting, but now it appears many of them want to be publishers as well. First came author James Gleick. Even though he helped negotiate the Authors Guild’s settlement with Google, he begins by mischaracterizing its particulars, asserting that it will “allow the scanning and digitizing of something very much like All the World’s Books. So here is the long dreamed-of universal library, its contents […]
Saletan Quits Harcourt Houghton Mifflin
The situation at Harcourt Houghton Mifflin continues to worsen, as the AP reports that svp and publisher of adult trade Becky Saletan has resigned her position as of December 10. There was no further comment beyond confirmation from the company. Saletan (along with others at HMH) has been required to stay silent as the company has stumbled its way through explaining their partial “freeze” on acquisitions of books for adults.AP
Wiley In Meredith Publishing and Distribution Deal
Meredith’s steady pullback from the book publishing business now appears to be Wiley’s gain: the book publisher has just announced a five-year licensing agreement starting March 1, 2009 that gives Wiley the rights to publish books using all of Meredith’s brand names, including Better Homes and Gardens, as well as marks including Family Circle, American Patchwork and Quilting, and Diabetic Living. Wiley will also take over as the exclusive distributor of Meredith’s backlist of about 200 titles, in all channels worldwide. According to Meredith’s version of the press release, they will “continue to create book content” from their offices in […]