Membership in the American Booksellers Association rose again in the most recent year, up by 48 members to 1,712 in all. The organization’s ranks have now grown for six consecutive years, after reaching a low of 1,410 members in 2008. In 2014 the ABA rolls rose by 32 members; in 2012 the ABA rolls rose by 65 members; in 2011 the gain was 55 members; in 2010, as they prepared to merge with the Association of Booksellers for Children they grew by 102 members; and in 2009, they grew by 9 members. The ABA also benefited from the recent trend […]
Archives for May 2015
People, Etc.
Former publisher at Atavist Books and Picador Frances Coady will join Aragi Inc. as a literary agent on May 28, representing both fiction and nonfiction. Fuse Literary has acquired Penumbra Literary and added its principal and owner, Jennifer Chen Tran as an associate agent. At independent publisher Sarabande Books’ Brooklyn office, Kristen Radtke has been promoted to managing editor, and Ariel Lewiton joined as the marketing and publicity director. Previously she worked at Oxford University Press and McGraw-Hill. The University of South Carolina will announce this week that they have acquired a substantial collection of letters, photos and publications of the late Dashiell Hammett. The archives have been obtained “through gift-and-purchase agreements” […]
The Look Ahead to BEA
With BEA set to begin on Wednesday, May 27 just after the extended Memorial Day Weekend, here’s an end-of-week reminder of the links you’ll need to get through the entire show: – during the day, stay on top of events with our simple, essential all-in-one sheet “master schedule”, posted at publun.ch/BEA15sched – at night, keep your social engagements straight (but only by invitation) with our BEA Party Planner – sample many of the biggest discovery books of the show ahead with free copies of our ebooks Buzz Books 2015: Fall/Winter and Buzz Books 2015: Young Adult – and catch up on […]
Corporate: Pearson Sells Family Education Network Sites, Harlequin Launches Audio
Pearson has sold their Family Education Network — the group of websites for kids that includes Poptropica and Funbrain — to UK-based private equity company Sandbox Partners for undisclosed terms. Founded last year, Sandbox is run by former president of Pearson English Bhav Singh. Pearson spokesperson Brendan O’Grady said the sale is part of a “shift to focus on the Pearson products and services with the biggest potential impact on learning outcomes.” But he noted Pearson will still use Poptropica characters in a number of their English-language learning products. Author Jeff Kinney, who co-founded Poptropica while working at FEN and continues as Poptropica’s creative […]
People, Etc.
Martin Barabas has joined Regan Arts as publicity manager. Most recently he worked at Ingber & Associates Talent Agency. Debra Woodward will join Red Wheel/Weiser as sales manager on June 8. She was most recently the New England sales representative for Candlewick Press. At Soho Press, Amara Hoshijo has been promoted to assistant editor. At Sourcebooks, Becca Smith is being promoted to publicity & marketing specialist. In addition, Ami Vanderhoof has joined the e-commerce department as brand marketing manager. Previously she was marketing manager at Fannie May Confections Brands. Finally, Imani Mixon has joined as ecommerce copywriter/storyteller. Distribution The Brookings […]
Fall/Winter Buzz Books Preview: Fiction
As usual, our free Buzz Books sampler opens with Sarah Weinman’s broader surveys of over 100 notable books from the forthcoming season. Following the nonfiction overview from earlier this week, here is our literary fiction summer, to help round out your BEA radar — and you can read the complete excerpts anytime in the new editions of Buzz Books. And also as usual, publication dates may have changed, and errors are ours (as well as the ONIX feed.) Here is our look at forthcoming fiction: Literary Fiction Publishers typically reserve their biggest literary titles for the fall, and this season is […]