Philip Roth, Marilynne Robinson, Anne Tyler, and Philip Pullman are 13 authors shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize, announced yesterday evening. John Le Carre, who was also shortlisted for the prize, immediately asked for his name to be withdrawn from consideration. “I am enormously flattered to be named as a finalist of 2011 Man Booker International Prize,” he said in a statement. “However I do not compete for literary prizes and have therefore asked for my name to be withdrawn.” Prize chair Rick Gekoski said Le Carre’s name would remain on the list, adding that the prize committee “are disappointed that […]
Archives for March 2011
Former White House Press Secretary Named Crown Forum Editorial Director; Other Press Bumps Up Author E-Royalties; and More
Former White House Press Secretary Dana Perino has been named editorial director of Crown Forum, where she will acquire and edit six to eight titles annually for the conservative imprint. Perino, who currently works as a communications strategist and Fox News contributor and helped devise the promotional strategy for George W. Bush’s Decision Points, will work out of Washington, DC. Crown has also promoted Sean Desmond to executive editor. Starting Friday, April 1, Other Press will increase its ebook royalty rates to 50 percent of net proceeds once an author’s advance has earned out, and to 30 percent before an […]
People, Etc.
David Saracco has joined codeMantra as director of strategic accounts and business Development. Previously he was VP ePublishing and business development for Impelsys. Shaun Tan has won the Astrid Lindgren Prize, the largest children’s literature award. The Australian Crime novelist and critic HRF Keating, best known for his Inspector Ghote novels, died Sunday at the age of 84. Telegraph Obit Book Expo America announced the convention will have an increased digital presence on the show floor thanks to the IDPF-sponsored Digital Zone, which will feature 17 booths and 16 kioks over approximately 5000 square feet. The IDPF’s two day conference […]
BKS Stock Rises on Rumored Private Equity Interest; 3 Million Nook Colors Reportedly Shipped
Barnes & Noble‘s plummeting stock price of the past week or so – no doubt helped by a report that the company’s sale prospects appear to be dimming — reversed course yesterday, as shares rose 5 percent to 9.71 on renewed rumors the company might be taken over by private equity. Supply chain sources also indicate that BN has made and/or shipped approximately 3 million Nook Color units, with sales topping 1m in North America for the fourth quarter of 2010 and between 600,000 and 700,000 units between January and the end of February this year. The same sources also […]
Former Washington Post Reporters Will Buy Politics & Prose
Nearly a year after announcing the store was for sale, Politics & Prose will be under the new ownership of former Washington Post reporters Bradley Graham and his wife Lissa Muscatine. Barbara Meade and David Cohen, the widower of Meade’s fellow owner Carla Cohen, chose the couple to buy the store after entertaining five or six bids and determining Graham and Muscatine were “uniquely qualified to extend the store’s reputation as a gathering place for ideas and civic discourse.” At a meeting with store staff, Graham said Politics & Prose has “a very special culture here, a culture we want […]
Random House Revenues and Profits Grow Thanks To Digital Market Boost
Compared to the cautious and wary tone struck by Random House and its parent company Bertelsmann the year before, a wave of optimism was clearly evident in their reporting on fiscal year 2010 results. Company revenues rose 6.1 percent to â¬1.828 billion, while operating EBIT rose by 26.3 percent to â¬173 million. (That brings them almost back to levels last reached in fiscal 2007, when they reported sales of â¬1.837 billion ad EBIT of â¬173 million, both down at the time from fiscal 2006.) Digital sales rose 250% over the previous year, comprising approximately 10 percent of US revenues. Among major contributors, […]