Chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary John Simpson will retire in October 2013, a position he has held since 1993–the seventh OED editor since Sir James Murray’s appointment in 1879. Under his leadership, over 60,000 new words and meanings were added to the dictionary. Time has a lengthy interview with Simpson on his tenure. Current editorial project director Michael Proffitt will take over as chief editor on November 1, and principal etymologist Philip Durkin will move up to join Edmund Weiner as deputy chief editor. Chief executive of Oxford University Press Nigel Portwood said: “John Simpson has made a truly outstanding contribution to […]
Archives for April 2013
Singles’ Gatekeeper
A wise executive explained not too long ago: “Even well-meaning gatekeepers slow innovation. When a platform is self-service, even the improbable ideas can get tried, because there’s no expert gatekeeper ready to say ‘that will never work!’ And guess what – many of those improbable ideas do work, and society is the beneficiary of that diversity.” Except, apparently, for short length ebooks, where Amazon’s hired gatekeeper David Blum “is using his deep connections in the New York media world” and “cherry-picks [fewer than 15] pieces from the more than 1,000 unsolicited manuscripts he receives each month” for Kindle Shorts. Rather […]
People, Etc.
Hannah Wood has moved to Harper as an associate editor. Isaac Fitzgerald will join McSweeney’s Publishing as publicity director on May 1. Previously he was managing editor of the literary website The Rumpus. Harper Christian has licensed exclusive rights to sell and distribute print editions of the entire catalog of titles from Spanish publishing house Editorial CLIE worldwide outside of Spain. The announcement underscores that the agreement includes the popular 1977 revised Reina-Valera Spanish Bible translation. CLIE books will be issued by Harper Christian as a separate imprint in their international roster, joining Grupo Nelson and Vida. As noted previously, it’s […]
Profit Far Lower in Quercus’s “Year of Transition”
Quercus announced preliminary results for the full fiscal year ending December 31, reporting £1.5 million in operating profit, a sharp dropoff from the £5.9 million reported for 2011, and revenues of £20.4 million, declining from £24.8 million the previous year. The company included a £100,000 charge to set up a new American division, which will launch this fall with 25 titles scheduled. They project “a program of 86 titles” in the US in 2014, and are readying another 150 ebooks for their backlist for US release. On the growth side, ebook sales were £6.4 million, up from £2.7 million in […]
DOJ Moves for Final Judgment in Penguin Settlement
In keeping with the schedule proposed at the beginning of the year, the DOJ filed a motion on April 18 moving for a final judgment on their settlement with Penguin from December. They asked Judge Cote to rule “without further hearing if the Court determines that entry is in the public interest” especially since in the DOJ’s view, a delay in doing so will also delay the implementation of ebook discounting: “There is no just reason to delay the availability of these benefits for consumers.” Answering papers, if any, must be filed by May 7, in accordance with the proposed […]
People
Julia Kenny is joining Dunow Carlson & Lerner as an agent, rejoining her recent colleague Eleanor Jackson. Kenny was at Markson Thoma–from which Geri Thoma, Jackson, Laney Katz Becker and Kenny have all departed since early March. At Abbeville Press, Joan Strasbaugh has been named senior editor. Previously she was publisher of Jones Books in Madison, WI. In addition, Diana Griffin has been promoted to marketing and publicity manager. At Harlequin Shannon Criss has been promoted to associate editor for the Kimani imprint. In the UK, Mari Evans will leave Michael Joseph to go to Headline in July as publishing director, fiction. […]