In the latest expansion of Penguin Random House’s film/tv development efforts, Random House Studio has signed a two-year first-look production agreement Universal Pictures. Random House Studio, under the direction of president Peter Gethers, will serve as a producer on the projects developed and filmed under the agreement. Once again, UTA represented Penguin Random House in the deal. Universal co-president of production Jeffrey Kirschenbaum says in the announcement: “Peter Gethers’ ability to identify books that can be adapted into movies that can attract major talent makes his team a unique and invaluable addition to the Universal family.” Universal is already readying […]
Archives for September 2014
People, Etc.
Andrew Kidd “has decided to leave agenting” and will depart Aitken Alexander at the end of October after 6 years there. The announcement says he will “pursue a new path in the book industry,” apparently to be announced in November. Eric Price has joined Melville House in the newly created role of vp, business development. Previously he was director of sales and marketing at Quercus US and before then was associate publisher and coo at Grove Atlantic. At Penguin Random House US, Akiko Iwamoto has been promoted to regional sales director, Asia, while Mike Zaug moves up to regional sales director, […]
Slate and the Whiting Foundation Team Up to Honor Second Novels
Slate and the Whiting Foundation have teamed up for the Slate/Whiting Second Novel List (which they are also calling “We Second That”). While more of an organized promotional campaign than an award per se — “akin to being retweeted by your literary idol, or finding out that the classmate you have a crush on thinks you’re cute” — the idea is to recognize five second novels published over the past five years “whose first trips through the literary-pressdustrial complex may not have been all the authors hoped for.” It was inspired by a tweet by Porochista Khakpour last June (“Can someone […]
Amazon Readies “New Reader-Powered Publishing Program”
Over the past few days, Amazon emailed some self-published KDP authors about a new initiative in the works, according to a discussion on the Kindle forum. In response to a query, Amazon spokesperson Susan Stockman confirmed to us that the company is “working on a new reader-powered publishing program with transparent, fixed contract terms.” The new venture uses reader feedback to “vote” for books that should be published by Amazon: “Under the program, authors submit their books and, after a few days, an excerpt of a few pages will be posted for readers to nominate books they’d like to see published. […]
People
Perseus announced internally on Monday “several key changes” in their international sales and rights business to fuel their growth, including a number of new appointments. A newly created vp of international sales and marketing will oversee the London and New York-based international sales teams from New York once a search is completed. VP of international sales and business development Chitra Bopardikar “has decided to depart the company to pursue new interests.” The company has created a new international operations & communications department, with Agustina Casal leading the new unit as director, reporting to Carolyn Savarese in the role. (Casal continues to work on the Faber Factory […]
Forthcoming: Gabriel Garcia Marquez eBooks; Debut Fig Tree List
Vintage will release nine titles by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, including LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA and CHRONICLE OF A DEATH FORETOLD, in English-language ebook editions on October 15. At the same time, Vintage Espanol will issue ebook versions of 18 Garcia Marquez works in Spanish. The deal marks the first time books by Garcia Marquez, who died in April, will be available in digital format in the US, and comes several months after the estate’s agent Carmen Balcells announced a preliminary deal to create a joint partnership with the Wylie Agency. Jewish-American literary fiction publisher Fig Tree Books announced its […]