Hachette Livre ceo Arnaud Nourry was the headliner in the annual ceo interview at the Frankfurt Book Fair on Wednesday. Nourry reiterated the position of his parent company Lagardere, which has been putting their major “allocation of cash…towards other businesses” recently but remains ready for smaller investments in publishing. “As far as medium-size, fill-in acquisitions, we are and will remain very active,” Nourry made clear. On his shopping list, “In America, we would certainly be stronger in nonfiction and that’s an area where at the time we were looking at it, Perseus was a very good fit,” and the desire to […]
Archives for October 2015
Booker Prize to Marlon James
Marlon James won the Booker Prize for A Brief History In Seven Killings, which the judges called the “most exciting” book on the shortlist. Chair of the judges Michael Wood said they came to a unanimous decision — not always the case for the Booker — in a quick two hours. Currently living in Minneapolis, James is the first Jamaican author to win the award. Wood notes further: “This book is startling in its range of voices and registers, running from the patois of the street posse to The Book of Revelation. It is a representation of political times and […]
Amazon Crossing to Spend $10 Million On Translations
After five years of their ambitious initiative to publish literature in translation, Amazon Publishing’s Amazon Crossing announced a “$10 million commitment over the next five years to increase the number and diversity of its books in translation” (so $2 million a year.) That money “will go toward fees paid to translators,” the company said, “and increasing the countries and languages represented on the Amazon Crossing list.” The company has also opened a website “for authors, agents and publishers to suggest titles for translation.” They will consider the following categories: mystery, thriller, women’s fiction, historical fiction, literary fiction, memoir, science fiction and fantasy. Publisher […]
Bookselling: Barnes & Noble To Close Downtown DC Location; Sherman’s Buys Maine Coast Book Shop; and More
Barnes & Noble will close its downtown Washington, DC location by the end of the year, the Washington City Paper reported. Company vp, development David Deason told the paper: “Despite our best efforts to come to an agreement with the property owner to extend the lease, they have decided to move forward with another tenant and the store will close at the end of December.” Maine Coast Book Shop and Cafe has a new owner in Sherman’s Books & Stationery’s Jeff Curtis, who will make the store the sixth location of Sherman’s as of January 1. “Putting what amounts to […]
The Frankfurt Book Fair Opens (Sort of)
The Frankfurt Book Fair is a show of many openings. There is the official press conference on Tuesday morning — which really is press only, and required early applications and background checks for credentials this year with high security for the keynote address from author Salman Rushdie. On Tuesday afternoon there is the opening ceremony, welcoming the international guest of honor (this year it’s Indonesia). For agents and other rights sellers the work has already begun, at the pre-rights-center-of-habit in the Frankfurter Hof hotel. And tonight, there is the unofficial first big event at the annual Hachette Book Group party, with an […]
People, Etc.
Kelly O’Connor has been promoted to associate editor at Voyager. Geoff Shandler‘s new imprint at HarperCollins will be called Custom House and has announced some of their acquisitions from the past year. Lauren Grand Lubell has joined Chronicle Books as junior industrial designer. In addition, Marie Oishi has been promoted to managing editor, art, while Elizabeth Smith has been promoted to assistant managing editor, children’s. Bloomsbury’s Public Library Online has hired the former managing director and development manager of the Dutch national digital library Diederik van Leeuwen and Mark Knijnenburg to “drive sales and business development of the platform in the UK and Europe.” […]