Penguin’s genre community Book Country, which focused on romance, mystery/thriller and science fiction & fantasy upon arrival in April 2011, will formally relaunch on Wednesday with a broader array of categories and services. Book Country’s genre map has expanded to include literary fiction, memoir, narrative nonfiction, New Adult, and several sub-categories within Young Adult. In addition, Book Country, which now has 8300 members as well as eight authors who landed publishing deals, will launch a bookstore that allows community members to sell titles, both through Book Country as well as through all major outlets that Penguin distributes to. Book Country […]
Archives for July 2013
Names from the UK — For Booker Candidates
While many are waiting on the name of the Prince of Cambridge, the UK’s Booker Prize released a list of 13 names — their longlist of possible contenders for this year’s award. The real list of nominees will be issued September 10. The longlist of 13 titles is mainly useful to help publishers prepare to adjust publication dates, since 5 of the books have not been published at all yet in the UK (only 6 are out in the US). And it can lay the groundwork for rights sales (or intracorporate publication arrangements), since four titles appear to have no […]
People: Adjustments at Westview, and More
Perseus Books Group group publisher Bill Newlin announced some changes at the Westview Press unit which reports to him, to “meet [the] challenges” as textbook publishing is in transition, “beginning with a reconfigured editorial department based in Berkeley, and an expanded marketing department based in Boulder.” Associate editorial director Toby Wahl, senior acquisitions editor Leanne Silverman, and editorial assistant Brooke Smith are leaving the company. Avalon acquisitions director Grace Fujimoto will now manage Westview acquisitions as well as travel, reporting to Newlin. Fujimoto will chair an acquisitions committee that includes Westview publisher Cathleen Tetro and Newlin. Joining Westview in Boulder […]
Briefs: Banks and Perseus Funds Sue Frank Pearl’s Estate; German Publisher Is Rowling Winner; And More
The estate of financier and Perseus Books founder Frank Pearl, who died in May 2012, is being sued by Bank of America, TD Bank, Eagle Bank and even Perseus Funds for more than $50 million, according to the Washington Post, alleging he “sought to avoid payment to creditors by fraudulently moving $59 million in life insurance proceeds and other assets from his estate into Perseus Trust, which he had created for his wife” after being diagnosed with terminal cancer in November 2011. Bank of America seeks $22 million; TD Bank and Eagle Bank are asking for more than $16 million […]
HOTHOUSE in the Hot Seat
Boris Kachka has covered the trade publishing beat for more than thirteen years at New York Magazine, and one could look at his forthcoming book Hothouse, which S&S will publish August 6, as a rite of passage akin to a Bar Mitzvah. The advance attention from booksellers and publishing types for the book, a history of Farrar, Straus & Giroux and the two figures, Roger Straus and Robert Giroux, who loomed largest over the publishing house’s six decades, has been almost uniformly rapturous, garnering the No. 1 slot for August’s Indie Next list. But Hothouse‘s predicament begins with its declaration […]
People, Etc.
At Other Press, Marjorie DeWitt has been promoted to editor. The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) announced three new hires, along with a new organizational structure “around our core competencies of standards, research, and education, and supported by our first real coordinated marketing effort.” Thomson Guster is coordinator of education and events, and Julie Morris is project manager, standards and best practices (she was project manager for the web production team at Columbia University’s Center for Digital Research and Scholarship). Jeanette Zwart is focused on marketing strategy, after working as vp, sales at Harper Collins, and current staff member Nadine […]