Stacy Cantor Abrams moves to romance publisher Entangled as of January 3, oversee all acquisitions. She has been at Bloomsbury’s Walker Children’s Books unit. At Berrett-Koehler, Neal Maillet has been promoted to editorial director. He will continue to acquire titles in the areas of business, leadership, current affairs, and personal development. Tom Bouman has joined Orbit in the US as an editor, acquiring science fiction and fantasy. Previously, he was an editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. The Huffington Post noticed tweets from Harper Perennial indicating that Michael Chabon‘s TELEGRAPH AVENUE is being presented in-house for publication in fall 2012. A spokesperson […]
Archives for December 2011
Penguin Takes 45 Percent Stake In Brazil’s Companhia das Letras
Penguin has expanded its relationship with Brazil’s Companhia das Letras, taking a 45 percent stake in the publisher. The two companies have collaborated on co-publishing Penguin Classics in Brazil since fall 2009, when they formed Penguin Companhia Classicos and Penguin Companhia. Co-founder Luiz Schwarz writes, “Nothing will change in our philosophy or direction. Our editorial choices will be made as independently as always, but with a closer contact with the great editorial team of the Penguin family around the world. This is how Companhia plans to face the important challenges of publishing’s future: we will join forces with one of […]
More Best of the Best of 2011
A number of new lists of the best books of 2011 have been issued, including a number of lists from Barnes & Noble, Esquire‘s top 10 (with particular nods to Amy Waldman’s The Submission and Ron Suskind’s Confidence Men), along with lists from the likes of BookPage and NY Magazine, which runs recommendations from others rather than their own critics. We’re continuing to compile our omnibus Best of the Best of 2011 lists, where the consensus fiction favorites have solidified considerably, even as the nonfiction list remains wide open. From 19 consolidated sources so far: The Top 10 of 2011: […]
People: Clain Named New Little, Brown EIC
At Little, Brown, Judy Clain is being promoted to editor-in-chief. She will chair the editorial board, oversee editorial staff, and serve as the house’s “primary ambassador to agents.” All of Little, Brown’s editors will report to her except for Reagan Arthur, who has her own imprint, and Geoff Shandler, both of whom report to publisher Michael Pietsch. Shandler is taking the new position of editorial director, focusing on expanding their nonfiction program. Pietsch says he will “spearhead an ambitious effort to expand…into new directions, involving both print and digital, existing categories and new ones, innovative business partnerships and increased academic […]
Corporate Briefs: Sourcebooks Buys College Costs Sites; Bertelsmann to Add Advisory Group
Through their recently launched division focused on college applicants and attendees, Sourcebooks EDU, the company has acquired two online financial aid resources, the free website managingcollegecost.com and the subscription site myfinancialfit.com. Both were founded by veteran admissions and guidance counselor Frank Palmasani to help families manage the cost of college. Sourcebooks “plans to make these tools more widely available, as well as enhance these resources with additional video, content, webinars, seminars, books, interactive ebooks, and software tools.” Incoming Bertelsmann ceo Thomas Rabe is forming a new high-level advisory committee comprising seven senior executives from the company’s individual divisions which will […]
Bookselling: Online Shopping Habits of Bookstore Browsers; Daunt on “Ruthless, Moneymaking Devil” Amazon; and More
A new survey conducted in October by The Codex Group gives statistical heft to a phenomenon noted anecdotally by independent booksellers for years: 24 percent of people who said they had bought books from an online retailer in the last month said they had first seen the books in a brick-and-mortar location. (One could, on the other hand, be surprised that the percentage isn’t higher.) Furthermore, 39 percent of people who bought books from Amazon during the same period did so after viewing the book in a physical shop. Codex Group president Peter Hildick-Smith may draw the wrong conclusion in […]