At Franklin & Siegal Associates, Danny Yanez has been promoted to director of adult scouting. In addition, both Nicole Sohl and Joshua LaMorey have joined as literary scouts. Sohl was most recently associate editor at Thomas Dunne Books and Macmillan Entertainment, while LaMorey was previously a literary scout at Barbara Tolley & Associates.
Zaneta Jung has joined Chronicle Books as assistant editor. Previously she was an assistant editor, children’s books at Sterling.
Politics & Prose has promoted Liz Hottel to director of events, succeeding Susan Coll, who is taking a leave of absence to focus on other projects. In addition, Justin Stephani recently began a new role as director of programs, in which he will be developing the store’s established classes and trips programs.
At the recent RWA conference in San Diego, the RITA awards were presented in 12 categories.
Target’s Book Club Pick for August is And Again by Jessica Chiarella.
Unlisted
Last fall, Gavin Eugene Long — the man who recently shot six police officers in Baton Rouge — self-published three books, writing as Cosmo Setepenra. As the LAT notes, “The books are a combination of New Age-style jargon, pseudoscience, motivational bromides, health tips and racial theory.” Subsequent to their postings, the books were removed from Amazon and BN.com (though are still listed for sale on other online sites, including Books-a-Million and Indie Bound.)
Layoffs
According to a number of online accounts, Microsoft Press has laid off what remained of the unit’s small editorial staff. ZDNet reports a spokesperson indicated, “The job reductions impacted a variety of roles and reflect adaptations to business needs. We go through this process in the most thoughtful manner possible, with the deepest respect for affected individuals.” By unconfirmed count, six jobs were eliminated. Microsoft had taken back editorial functions from O’Reilly in late 2013 and moved sales and distribution to Pearson in 2014, with at least one author tweeting that his book is still on schedule for the fall, saying the “brand will live on under Pearson.”
Initiatives
Amazon has launched their own version of…Byliner (which was sold in distress to Vook, the rebranded parent of which — Pronoun — was recently acquired by Macmillan). Called Singles Classics, Amazon’s version packages “iconic articles, stories and essays from well-known authors writing for top magazines and periodicals” as individual ebooks, launching with about 140 pieces. The real commercial hook is that they are all part of the Kindle Unlimited subscription program, where members can read the short files for free while authors receive pro-rated proceeds. (Of course, per our note below, a 14-page John Le Carre story would pay something like 5.75 cents per subscription read; a 50-page Norman Mailer piece would yield almost 25 cents a read.)
Correction
We got the Kindle Unlimited per page payment rate wrong yesterday. The KDP forum thread discussing the payout was called “KENP now $.0041,” but that was an updated thread from February. The correct rate for June was $.00492 per page, up from May’s rate of $.00468.