We’ve already had complete views on the first six months of 2016 from the publishers and retailers that report publicly, and now, almost six months after the fact, the AAP has issued their publisher-reported data for the month of March and the first quarter of the year. Per our detailed analysis in July, we are focusing on the quarterly reports over the monthly installments, and providing a lens that looks to hold up over time as useful. Gross print sales were up very slightly, at $1.4085 billion (just $2 million higher than the first quarter of 2015), as Nielsen Bookscan separately […]
Archives for September 2016
Google Adds Discover Feature to Books App; Sainsbury’s Gives Up On eBooks
On Monday Google Play added a “discover” feature to their app (only on Android for now; iOS is coming later), calling it “a new way to find books by browsing the latest reviews, news, lists, videos and more.” The feature combines original book-focused content — author interviews, essays and more — along with aggregated book stories from the web. “A smart experience with personalized stories for you — Google’s algorithms and data surface just the right stories based on the books you read on Play Books. When you’re reading an article or watching a video, Discover automatically pulls out the books […]
Kirkus Prize Shortlists; National Book Literarian Award to Cave Canem
The Kirkus Prize announced shortlists in fiction, nonfiction, and various children’s book categories, with the winners to be announced at a ceremony in Austin, TX on November 3. There is little overlap with theNational Book Award longlists (asterisked), though fiction writers Colson Whitehead and Adam Haslett are among those on both lists. The complete list of nominees features: Fiction Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett (Little, Brown)* Carousel Court by Joe McGinniss Jr. (Simon & Schuster) The Sport of Kings by C.E. Morgan (FSG) Barkskins by Annie Proulx (Scribner) A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (Viking) The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead […]
People, Etc.
Amanda Bergeron moves to Berkley as executive editor on September 26. She has been at Morrow/Avon for the past 8 years. Natasha Fairweather will leave United Agents and join Rogers, Coleridge & White in October, where she will also join the board. Joan Strasbaugh has joined The Experiment as senior editor. Becky Herrick has joined Skyhorse as editor at Sky Pony Press. She was previously with Scholastic. David Marcus has been named literary editor at The Nation, overseeing books and arts coverage, succeeding John Palatella, who will become an editor at large. Marcus was previously co-editor at Dissent. Nebraska Book Holdings named Rick Bunka as their new president and ceo, […]
People, Etc.
Ibrahim Ahmad has been promoted to editorial director at Akashic Books. Mackenzie Brady Watson joins the Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency as a literary agent today, where she will continue focusing on representing narrative non-fiction (science, history, sociology, investigative journalism, food, business, and memoir) and select up-market and literary YA fiction. Most recently she was an agent at New Leaf Literary & Media. Darcy Cohan has joined Insight Editions as PR director. At Quarto, Geraldine McBride has been promoted to UK sales director, as Jon Stefani leaves the company to join social eating start-up Wefifo. Novelist WP Kinsella, author of books including Shoeless Joe (the basis of […]
Briefs: Pedroza Collects In Fifty Shades Settlement, Amazon Boston, and More
Jennifer Pedroza will finally collect from her former Writers’ Coffee Shop partner Amanda Hayward, in a confidential settlement. Hayward is dropping her appeal of the Texas District Court judgment that gave Pedroza a $10.6 million award, along with $900,000 in interest and $1.7 million in attorney’s fees. The final payment does include at least $1.6 million from Random House that was being held by the court. Hayward had been ordered to put $10 million in escrow in 2015 though it was never clear whether she had the cash to fulfill the court’s order. Royalties from Random House were to be channeled to the escrow account to […]