Counterpoint Press editor-at-large Dan Smetanka has been appointed executive editor. He will continue to acquire fiction and nonfiction for both the Counterpoint and Soft Skull lists and will remain based in Los Angeles. Sarah Younger has been promoted to associate agent at the Nancy Yost Literary Agency, where she has worked for two years. The Cooke Agency International will sell foreign rights outside of North America to the list represented by fellow Canadians Rick Broadhead & Associates. At Dutton, Liza Cassity has been promoted to senior publicist. In the UK, the Blake Friedmann Literary Agency has hired David Newton as […]
Archives for October 2013
As Expected, Apple Will Appeal eBook Verdict and Injunction — and So Will Simon & Schuster and Macmillan
Last Thursday Apple filed the long-expected notice of appeal with the court, intending to challenge the verdict against them in the ebook pricing trial as well as the order entering permanent injunction. But that brief notice is all that they have filed for now. Additionally, however, Simon & Schuster has filed their own notice of appeal, as has Macmillan, specifically limited to the injunction. Presumably they both want to continue the challenge raised by publishers earlier that the penalties the court wants to impose on Apple unfairly imposes a kind of double jeopardy on the settling publishers, going above and […]
First and Last
For last-minute planners headed to the Frankfurt Book Fair, you can still enroll for what promises to be a very interesting Publishers Launch conference on Tuesday (from 8:30 to 2:00). And you can still use our code PL13PartnerMC20 to save 20 percent on registration. We have newsmakers Trip Adler of Scribd; Charlie Redmayne of HarperCollins UK; Russ Grandinetti of Amazon; Jonathan Nowell of Nielsen Book; Alan Lau of Wattpad; and Otis Chandler of Goodreads — plus Ken Brooks, Rebecca Smart, Marcus Leaver, Micah Bowers, Octavio Kulesz and a panel on Germany’s emergence as the new market to go digital, with a closing […]
Corporate: Luebbe’s IPO; Penguin Random Buys Out Penguin’s Partner In India
Germany’s Bastei Luebbe completed an IPO on the Frankfurt stock exchange — though the company wound up raising only about half of what they hoped to garner in “a challenging market environment.” When the plan was announced in September, they aspired to sell 5.3 million shares at up to 11 euros a share (for proceeds of 58 million euros). In the end, they were able to place 4 million shares, at a lower price of 7.5 euros a share. The proceeds of 30 million euros will be used for digitization and content acquisition. Shares will begin trading on October 8. […]
Faber Rebounds In Record Year
The UK’s Faber and Faber reported strong results for the fiscal year ending March 2013, with sales of £20 million and operating profit of a robust £2.24 million. CEO Stephen Page said in a statement: “This record result for the company is very pleasing, and is the result of the company’s long-term plan to thrive in this new era for the industry. Across the publishing, creative writing, digital and service businesses, we saw development and success.” A year ago, sales had declined from £19.1 million to £17.5 million, and after tax profit had fallen to £537,000. On Canongate’s results noted […]
People, Etc.
Whitney Frick will join Flatiron Books as senior editor on October 21. Previously she was an editor at Scribner. Also at Macmillan, Anne Marie Tallberg has been promoted to vp, associate publisher of St. Martin’s Paperbacks and Griffin, as well as publishing director of eBook Originals. In the UK, Jo Unwin is leaving her position as deputy publishing director at Doubleday UK after a brief stretch to return to agenting. Her new Jo Unwin Literary Agency will work in association with Rogers, Coleridge and White, and she will be based in their offices. Bloomsbury Spark, the company’s digital YA and […]