Editorial director of Bloomsbury Children’s UK Emma Matthewson will join Hot Key Books at a date “to be confirmed” as editor-at-large for their recently launched fiction line for 9- to 19 year-olds. Matthewson has been at Bloomsbury for the 15 years; the move reunites her with Sarah Odedina, who was publishing director of Bloomsbury Children’s before moving to Bonnier to start up Hot Key Books. At Basic Books, TJ Kelleher has been promoted to senior executive editor, Tisse Takagi and Alex Littlefield move up to editor, and Katy O’Donnell has been promoted to assistant editor. Bloomsbury cfo Robert Marsh, who came to the […]
Archives for October 2012
Penguin Reiterates Position On MacAdam/Cage Suit
In a separate statement, Penguin told us Friday they will proceed with their lawsuit against MacAdam/Cage over the ebook license to Susan Vreeland’s GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE even though the smaller publisher has announced plans to seek a buyer. Penguin indicates they notified MacAdam/Cage publisher David Poindexter “several times” about Vreeland’s claim and the settlement negotiations, but that “he remained silent.” Penguin says their suit is “seeking only the money it paid out of pocket to Susan Vreeland. Ms. Vreeland was able to show that she, not MacAdam/Cage, owned the ebook rights that MacAdam/Cage purported to grant Penguin, and that […]
Quarto Vote Set for November 7
As predicted last week, Quarto has set a special meeting date for November 7 on the dissident shareholder call to remove Laurence Orbach and replace him with Tim Chadwick. The company’s board has recommended that shareholders vote against the proposal, and that is how board member-controlled stock comprising 15.2 percent of shares (mostly Orbach’s) will vote. The board says that “during a radical period of adjustment in the book publishing industry, the company has managed to build a successful and growing business.” They endorse their own “clear, well thought-out and well-received succession plan,” under which recently-hired coo Marcus Leaver will […]
Initiatives: Pratchett Exploits His Own Multimedia Rights; S&S Seeks to License Author Videos
Author of the Discworld series (and many others) Terry Pratchett has launched a multimedia production company that holds and will exploit exclusive rights to his work for film, TV, merchandising and digital media. Called Narrativia, the company is led by managing director Rod Brown. A writer, director and producer of commercial TV for over two decades, Brown produced the adaptation of Pratchett’s Hogfather and The Color of Magic. The announcement indicates that they company “is already working on a number of Pratchett-related TV and film projects with high profile production partners and scriptwriters.” Among Simon & Schuster‘s new offerings at […]
Penguin Explains Author Lawsuits
On Friday afternoon, Penguin issued to us a statement regarding the reported dozen separate lawsuits seeking to recover advances paid to authors the publishers says did not submit manuscripts: “Penguin invests in, nurtures and develops authors who write books that we publish and bring to readers. It devalues the hard work of the vast majority of our authors, and is unfair to our readers, if a few individuals can keep tens of thousands of dollars in advances without ever delivering anything to the publisher. For this reason, Penguin is asking these authors to repay the money they received for work […]
People, Etc.: Remembering Wendy Weil
Wendy Weil, 72, died September 22 at her country home in West Cornwall, CT. Her career as an agent spanned more than 40 years and she was president of the Wendy Weil Literary Agency, which she founded in 1987, counting Rita Mae Brown, Andrea Barrett, Mark Helprin, Alice Walker, Anthony Doerr, Phillip Lopate, and Amity Gaige among the agency’s clients. Donations in her name may be made to Teachers & Writers Collaborative. Plans for a memorial service will be announced in early fall. Emily Forland and Emma Patterson and long-time office manager Ann Torrago remain at the agency and plan […]