Last week professor of engineering at the University of Louisiana – Lafayette and author of multiple engineering textbooks Russell Hibbeler filed suit in a Tennessee Federal Court against Pearson, alleging significant underpaid and/or unpaid royalties and charging the publisher with creating derivative works with permission and payment. (Hibbeler lives in Nashville.) The suit is of potentially broad interest given the extent but also the nature of Professor Hibbeler’s claims. In a 2015 audit from the Royalty Compliance Organization, Hibbeler says they discovered “significant underpayments and non- payments of royalties and other compensation due.” As part of the audit, “Pearson discovered […]
Archives for June 2017
iBooks Best Books of 2017 So Far
Every year we see more “best books of the year so far” lists landing in June, and this year iBooks beats the bellwether announcement from Amazon with their own picks. (Because of the weighting of the publishing schedule towards the fall, many of the “so far” picks get bumped in final “best of the year” competition. Last year, for example, 6 of Amazon’s half-year picks made it onto the final, consensus Very Best Books of the Year lists.) iBooks presents four lists: Favorite Bestsellers, Surprise Hits We Loved, Books We Couldn’t Put Down, and Stories We Can’t Shake. A number of […]
People, Etc.
Former publishing executive Dick McCullough, 67, died last week following a battle with brain tumors. Mike Shatzkin has posted a testimonial to “the best leader I ever met in the corporate world.” He notes: “Dick was not an unconventional person, but he loved eccentricity in other people. He wasn’t a brilliant thinker, but he gravitated to people who were. He learned from everybody. He respected everybody. He was relentlessly fair….He inspired us all to be better people. He inspired us all to have a generous spirit. He valued hard work, but he also valued a good time. I have never […]
Awards: Americans Take Carnegie and Greenaway, and More
For the first time, Americans won both the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals, the UK’s top children’s book prizes. Ruta Sepetys won the Carnegie Medal for Salt to the Sea (Penguin Children’s/Puffin), and Lane Smith won the Kate Greenaway Medal category with picture book There is a Tribe of Kids (Roaring Brook Press/Two Hoots). In accepting the award, Sepetys said: “As a writer, I am drawn to underrepresented stories and history in hiding. I spend a lot of time pondering the question – why do some parts of history penetrate our collective consciousness while others remain hidden? When I began work on the […]
Film/TV News: LB Children’s and Gotham Group, Boom! and Fox
Little, Brown Children’s has an agreement with The Gotham Group “to develop original IP properties for film and TV,” as announced through Deadline. Their first project is the spring 2018 paperback publication of the YA thriller Phantom Wheel by Tracy Deebs. “The idea was conceived in a development meeting between the two companies and they quickly set on Deebs, who has written eight YA novels.” LB Children’s editor-in-chief of licensing and IP Kara Sargent will oversee the initiative for the publisher, with Gotham ceo Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and co-head of the literary department Eddie Gamarra running their side of the effort. The story says […]
People, Etc.
Bloomsbury announced that Sir Richard Lambert will join their board as a non-executive Chairman for a term of four years on July 18 following their annual meeting.Lambert is chairman of the British Museum, and former director general of the Confederation of British Industry. As announced previously, current chair Sir Anthony Salz is retiring from the board as his term ends. Lauren Plude has joined Montlake Romance imprint as acquisitions editor. Most recently she was a freelance editor. Transworld editorial director Giles Elliott‘s position is being eliminated and he will leave the publisher on June 28 after 10 years at the company. […]