Hanya Yanagihara‘s A Little Life earned its first big award win on Thursday, recipient of the Kirkus Prize for fiction, as Ta-Nehisi Coates won the nonfiction prize for Between the World and Me — and both are in contention for National Book Awards. Pam Muñoz Ryan‘s middle-grade novel Echo won the young readers’ literature prize. Longtime executive director of the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association Hut Landon was feted this week as he retires from that position. Bookselling This Week has some testimonials from colleagues and friends reflect on his passion for, and many contributions to, the bookselling community. At Zondervan, Robyn Burwell has […]
Archives for October 2015
Appeals Court Reaffirms Google Books Project As Fair Use
Just over 10 years after the Authors Guild first filed suit against Google’s scanning of library books, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously confirmed District Court Judge Denny Chin’s 2013 ruling that the project qualifies as fair use under the copyright ruling. In a decision just as sweeping as Judge Chin’s own definitive conclusion rejecting all the Guild’s arguments, the Appeals Court also found in Google’s favor across the board. With their affirming opinion — and following a string of court losses in the original case and a related case against the nonprofit Hathi Trust built on parts of Google’s scanning — […]
Deal Volumes and Dollars Still Lag This Frankfurt Season
Our deal reports have been busy, as they always are around book fairs, but the information flow is big enough and the annual hype from other quarters intense enough that we always like to look to the data. An analysis of PM deal reports clearly shows that, as indicated at the end of September before the longer-than-usual pre-Frankfurt push, overall US dealmaking has lagged last year’s strong numbers. Pre-Frankfurt US Deal Volume, 2009–2015 Total domestic deals are down 11.5 percent over the five weeks or so ahead of the Fair (adjusted for this year’s late […]
People, Etc.
Sally Kim has joined Putnam as vp, editorial director, moving over from Touchstone, where she held the same position. Putnam and Dutton president Ivan Held said in the announcement: “Sally is the perfect person to both help carry on Putnam’s bestselling tradition and to lead our editorial team in the evolving marketplace. She has vision, market acumen, an eye for talent on the page, terrific agent relationships, and the right sensibility to help each editor bring in top books in each of Putnam’s areas of strength.” Kim added: “I can point to so many books on Putnam’s rich and distinguished […]
People, Etc.
At America’s Test Kitchen, Jack Bishop has been promoted to chief creative officer. NetGalley announced that they will launch their service in Germany, partnering with publisher Ullstein‘s reader platform Vorablesen. The service is set to debut in spring 2016. Ingram has expanded the roster of international digital printing and distribution partners in their Global Connect program. They will work with China National Publications Import & Export (CNPIEC) in China; Repro India in India; and Rotomail in Italy.
National Book Award Finalists Include Groff, Yanagihara, Coates and More
The finalists for each of the four National Book Award categories were announced Wednesday morning on NPR’s Morning Edition. The winners will be named on November 18. The fiction list gives Booker bettors’-favorite Hanya Yanagihara another chance at a major award, along with recently-named 5 Under 35 honoree Angela Flournoy. Fiction Karen E. Bender, Refund (Counterpoint) Angela Flournoy, The Turner House (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) Lauren Groff, Fates and Furies (Riverhead) Adam Johnson, Fortune Smiles (Random House) Hanya Yanagihara, A Little Life (Doubleday) Nonfiction Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me (Spiegel & Grau) Sally Mann, Hold Still (Little, Brown) Sy Montgomery, The Soul […]