The finalists for the 2013 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction were announced Wednesday. The winner will be announced on March 19, and the 33rd Annual PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction Ceremony & Dinner will be held on Saturday, May 4 at the Folger Shakespeare Library. The finalists are: Amelia Gray, Threats (Farrar, Straus) Laird Hunt, Kind One (Coffee House Press) T. Geronimo Johnson, Hold it ‘Til It Hurts (Coffee House Press) Thomas Mallon, Watergate (Pantheon) Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Everything Begins & Ends at the Kentucky Club (Cinco Puntos Press) Barnes & Noble also announced the winners of their annual Discover Awards: Fiction: […]
Archives for March 2013
iBookstore Opens In Japan, Writers Group Objects to Random Digital Contracts, and Other Updates
Apple announced the launch of the iBookstore in Japan Tuesday, including titles from a number of the country’s largest publishers, promising “hundreds of thousands of books available for purchase.” The Kindle store opened there last October, which followed Japanese offerings from Kobo and Google Play. Japan is the 51st country in which the iBookstore operates. In Apple’s release, they also note that the iBooks app has been “downloaded 130 million times worldwide.” Separately, Smashwords noted that the iBookstore’s merchandising feature for self-published titles “Breakout Books” was featured at the top of the UK and Irish iBookstores. The blog details promotional […]
Harlequin Finishes Year with Weak Quarter
Harlequin’s parent company Torstar reported fourth quarter and full year results Wednesday. For the quarter, the book publishing unit had sales of $105 million (CA), down by $13 million, while EBITDA dropped $4.5 million to $16.8 million, which Torstar attributed to a decrease in North American and overseas revenues where digital growth could not compensate. Digital sales comprised for 21.4 percent of worldwide revenue in the fourth quarter, and 20.7 percent of revenues for the full year (compared to 15.5 percent of sales in 2011). Total sales for year were $426.5 million, down 7 percent from $459 million a year […]
Suchomel Leaves IPG Abruptly
Independent Publishers Group president Mark Suchomel has left the company abruptly after 15 years in that position and 27 years in all with IPG. CEO Curt Matthews informed clients in an email “alert” Tuesday afternoon: “There has been an important change in IPG’s senior management. As of Monday, Mark Suchomel is no longer with the company. I want to thank Mark for his years of thoughtful service. He certainly had a great deal to do with the growth and success of IPG and your publishing programs over many years. “But as you know, the book business is changing quickly. IPG […]
People: A New Agency, and More
Agent Laurie McLean has left Larsen Pomada after 8 years and formed Foreword Literary, in partnership with former Larsen Pomada colleague Pam van Hylckama Vlieg and Gordon Warnock, who was an agent at Andrea Hurst & Associates. They are joined by assistant agents Danielle Smith and Jen Karsbaek. Foreword Literary will be a “virtual agency,” with professionals in the San Francisco Bay area, Sacramento, Chicago and the central coast of California to start. The agency aims to “blend the knowledge and skills of traditional publishing with the brash new opportunities engendered by digital publishing, self-publishing, ebooks, and technology. NYT bestselling YA fantasy author Julie […]
People, Awards, Etc.: Thoma, DiMona Join Writers House
Writers House announced that Geri Thoma and Lisa DiMona have joined the agency. Thoma, who joins on March 18, was previously partner at Markson Thoma, while DiMona, who will start on April 8, was founder and sole proprietor of Lark Productions, a literary agency and book development company established in 1998. “We are delighted that Geri and Lisa are joining our growing team of agents. Their expertise in nonfiction will complement our list and enlarge the scope of the agency,” said Writers House chairman Amy Berkower in a statement. In addition, Stephen Barr was recently promoted to senior agent, while […]