Louise Dennys will step aside from the day-to-day management of the Knopf Random Canada Publishing Group “to have the freedom to focus more fully on what she loves best: working directly with writers of both fiction and non-fiction and bringing their books to readers.” Dennys will have the new role of executive publisher, Random House of Canada, “designed especially to harness her great strengths in national and international book publishing.” Company ceo Brad Martin writes, “There are few who can rival Louise’s taste and judgment as an editor and publisher, and the impact she has had on Canadian publishing is […]
Archives for November 2013
Kids First, and Then The Widest Offerings Yet
We have much of the programming posted now for our third annual Publishers Launch Kids conference — on Monday, January 13, one of the kickoff events to “Digital Book World Week” in New York. PL Kids starts with a big block of data — from Nielsen (with analysis by Bookigee); from the Insight Strategy Group (looking at larger kids digital media trends); and from PlayCollective (updating their analysis of children’s digital reading habits) — and moves on to cover game-based learning initiatives; the push and pull of licensing and branding; moving to a mobile strategy; an overview of successful new […]
People, Etc.
At Vintage/Anchor, Andrea Robinson has been promoted to editor, while Emily Giglierano and Jocelyn Miller move up to assistant editor. In addition, Mark Chiusano has joined Vintage/Anchor as assistant editor. Previously he was an editorial assistant at Knopf. Isaac Fitzgerald will join BuzzFeed in December as books editor. Co-owner of the literary website the Rumpus, Fitzgerald was most recently publicity director at McSweeney’s, and will move from San Francisco to New York. At Daniela Schlingmann Literary Scouting Ltd., Cecilia Campbell-Westlind has been promoted to scout. Rupert Holmes’ Broadway adaptation of John Grisham‘s A Time to Kill will close on Sunday, […]
Donna Tartt’s THE GOLDFINCH Tops Amazon’s Best Books of the Year
Amazon announces its Best Books of 2013 lists, featuring lists in 20 different categories. Donna Tartt’s THE GOLDFINCH tops their 20 overall Editor’s Picks, which also feature, in order: Khaled Hosseini, AND THE MOUNTAINS ECHOED David Finkel, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE Kate Atkinson, LIFE AFTER LIFE Tom Kizzia, PILGRIM’S WILDERNESS Scott Anderson, LAWRENCE IN ARABIA George Saunders, TENTH OF DECEMBER Amanda Lindhout & Sara Corbett, A HOUSE IN THE SKY Rainbow Rowell, ELEANOR AND PARK Jaron Lanier, Who Owns the Future? Meg Wolitzer, The Interestings Jhumpa Lahiri, The Lowland Juan Gabriel Vásquez, Anne McLean, The Sound of Things Falling Helene Wecker, The Golem and […]
ABA Opposes Amazon Source Because, Well, It’s From Amazon
American Booksellers Association ceo Oren Teicher released a statement regarding the Amazon Source initiative. He is, as you might expect, opposed to the program, though the rationale is not entirely clear. Perhaps primarily, he just doesn’t like the company: “Given Amazon’s aggressive corporate tactics and their long-standing strategy to avoid the collection of sales tax, we don’t see this new program as being at all credible.” In one part of the statement, Teicher actually laments that the new Amazon program is only available to some of the organization’s members: “Based on available information, independent bookstores in more than half the […]
Record Earnings for Simon & Schuster
With regular sales relationships re-established with Barnes & Noble in August, Simon & Schuster turned in a strong third quarter. Sales of $224 million were up 7 percent from an unusually soft $210 million a year, and OIBDA hit a new third-quarter record high of $43 million, up from $39 million in 2012. Simon & Schuster ceo Carolyn Reidy notes that “we had a lot of wind behind our back going into the quarter” from a variety of established books (including the Cassandra Clare City of Bones movie tie-in) plus “some nice strong titles that did even better than we […]