On Friday night the winners of the Los Angeles Times Book Awards were named. They include: Biography Robert Caro, The Passage of Power (Knopf) Current Interest Katherine Boo, Behind the Beautiful Forevers (Random House) Fiction Ben Fountain, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (Ecco) First Fiction Maggie Shipstead, Seating Arrangements (Knopf) Mystery/Thriller Tana French, Broken Harbor (Viking) Other winners included Sammy Harkham (graphic novel); Fergus Bordewich (history); Louise Gluck (poetry); Florence Willams (science/tech); and A.S. King (YA).
Archives for April 2013
Cleared In Canada, Penguin Random House Merger Waits On One More Approval
Late Friday afternoon the Canadian Competition Bureau and the Department of Heritage cleared the Penguin Random House merger “without conditions,” as was the case in earlier approvals by the EU, Australia, New Zealand, and the US Department of Justice. In a joint statement Penguin and Random House said they “welcome the Canadian authorities’ decision as another important step on the way to completing the combination of their respective publishing companies.” China remains the only country left to sign off on the deal, and we understand there is no timetable available for when they might do so. As before, Pearson and […]
People
Julie Just, who became an agent at Janklow & Nesbit in late 2010 after working at the NYT Book Review as children’s book editor, is moving to Pippin Properties on May 1. Pippin founder Holly McGhee says: “We were looking to expand our agency and had just signed a new office lease when we began talking to Julie. Since we are interested in representing our authors’ and artists’ work across all genres, including more YA and adult trade books as well, Julie Just is exactly the right fit.” At Dutton, Carrie Swetonic has been promoted to director of marketing, and […]
Penguin Settles with EC On eBook Pricing
The last holdout, Penguin has now agreed to settle with the European Commission by making “commitments” on changes in ebook pricing and contracts. The proposed terms are “substantially the same” as those already agreed to by the other four agency publishers as well as Apple. (They will terminate existing agency agreements and move to agency lite for two years, and avoid any MFN clauses for 5 years.) As with the previous agreements, there is a a one-month comment period, after which the “commitments” can be made legally binding. In the EC’s view: “Penguin chose not to offer commitments to the […]
Bookselling: Closures, and More
Murder By the Book in Portland, OR has failed to execute a deal with a new buyer so, as warned in January, the store will close for good this Saturday. Co-owner Barbara Tom indicates “several people with good hearts expressed interest,” but nothing was finalized. The Oregonian adds: “Good hearts were everywhere in the weeks leading to the closing. Longtime customers offered to donate money; one sent a care package from California with pocket-sized packs of Kleenex for when the employees needed to cry. Seattle author Kevin O’Brien sent a box of chocolates. Many other authors, local and national, sent […]
Indies Choose Erdrich, Strayed, Ivey and Green and More
The ABA announced a popular set of Indies Choice Award winners for 2013, selecting “handselling favorites” as voted on by member stores. The honorees are: Fiction The Round House: A Novel, by Louise Erdrich (Harper) Nonfiction Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, by Cheryl Strayed (Knopf) Debut The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey (Little, Brown) Young Adult The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green (Dutton Children’s) John Green also won their “Indie Champion Award” Middle Grade Wonder, by R.J. Palacio (Knopf Books for Young Readers) Picture Book Extra Yarn, by Mac Barnett, Jon Klassen (Illus.) […]