The Washington Post covers the debate over the value of the Newbery Medal, “asking whether the books that have won recently are so complicated and inaccessible to most children that they are effectively turning off kids to reading. Of the 25 winners and runners-up chosen from 2000 to 2005, four of the books deal with death, six with the absence of one or both parents and four with such mental challenges as autism. Most of the rest deal with tough social issues.” Associate professor of literacy education at St. John’s University John Beach “studied 30 years of book lists chosen […]
Archives for December 2008
Lunch Weekly for Monday, December 15
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 Ilie Ruby’s THE DIAMOND TREES, to Lucia Macro at Avon, by […]
Sourcebooks Takes Over Cumberland House Assets
Sourcebooks announced this morning it has acquired “certain assets” of Nashville-based Cumberland House, best known as the publisher of Gregory Lang’s Why a Daughter Needs a Dad series of gift books, said to have sold more over 3 million copies. Sourcebooks publisher Dominque Raccah says “the addition of Cumberland House provides us with the opportunity to add a remarkably talented publisher to our team as well as significantly expanding our gift and regional titles.” Cumberland will remain as an independent imprint, and founder Ron Pitkin joins Sourcebooks as executive acquisitions editor. Sourcebooks is acquiring approximately 90 backlist and forthcoming titles. […]
Orman to Launch New Book with Another Oprah Giveaway
When Suze Orman promoted what became over a million free downloads in less than two days of her book WOMEN & MONEY on the Oprah Winfrey Show last February, the book had already been on the market for almost a year. Now Orman and publisher Spiegel & Grau are building on that experiment by launching her newly-announced SUZE ORMAN’S 2009 ACTION PLAN with an appearance on Oprah’s show and a free ebook download for a full week, ending with a live webcast on January 15. As with the previous download program, they are providing both English and Spanish versions. The […]
Rep Group Expands Electronic Ordering Tool for eCatalog Age
The non-profit professional association of commission book reps (National Association of Independent Publishers Representatives) is revamping its data service to create a “one-stop catalog-order data-management system” launching in late January (presenting fall 2009 lists). Designed to complement publishers’ move to e-catalogs, their Frontlist Plus Universal product promises “file-format translation compatible with a variety of proprietary inventory-control systems and other industry platforms.” The NAIPR asks, “Why should publishers, when developing e-catalogs, for example, have to individually reinvent the order processing piece? We encourage publishers to focus on rich content presentation rather than item-file population and ordering mechanics.” The data is free […]
New Yorker's Fiction Present
The New Yorker’s Fiction Issue carries a loaded line-up: An unpublished story by Mark Twain (from the book that Harper Studio will publish), as well as stories by Roberto Bolano, Alice Munro, Colson Whithead, and Donald Antrim, plus a personal essay by Zadie Smith and Dana Goodyear on cellphone novels in Japan.New Yorker