Radhika Jones, editorial director of the New York Times Book Review since late 2016, is expected to be named the next editor of Vanity Fair. She would succeed Graydon Carter who announced his retirement in September. Jones was deputy managing editor at Time Magazine before joining the NYT. At Abrams, Maya Bradford has been promoted to senior publicist, adult trade; Michael Kaserkie, previously with Color-X, has joined as associate production manager; and Stephanie Lee has been promoted to senior digital publishing associate for Abrams Plus. Holiday House Publishing announced that they will join the movement to downtown Manhattan in April 2018. The […]
Archives for November 2017
Indigo’s Best of 2017
Leading Canadian bookseller Indigo recently released their best of the year package, including their top 50 books of the year. The top 20 comprises: 1. The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas 2. The Sun and Her Flowers, by Rupi Kaur 3. Beartown, by Frederik Backman 4. Lonely Hearts Hotel, by Heather O’Neill 5. Ranger Games, by Ben Blum 6. Option B, by Sheryl Sandberg 7. The Stranger in the Woods, by Michael Finkel 8. Hunger, by Roxane Gay 9. The Child Finder, by Rene Denfeld 10. Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman 11. The Woman in Cabin 10, by Ruth […]
Next, Macmillan to Close Romance Community Site
Macmillan is closing another digital property, announcing the end of their six-year-old romance community website, Heroes and Heartbreakers. (Earlier this week, the company announced the closing of self-publishing platform Pronoun.) In a statement, Macmillan said: “As the digital habits of readers and consumers evolve, our strategic direction for reaching them evolves as well. Macmillan will be saying goodbye to the Heroes and Heartbreakers website by the end of 2017 and going forward will focus on engaging romance fans via our e-newsletter – which has a robust, growing circulation – and on social media.” Four staff members who work on H&H […]
People, Etc.
Chad Felix will join Grove/Atlantic as digital marketing manager. Previously he was director of library and academic marketing at Melville House. At The Experiment, Nicholas Cizek has been promoted to senior editor, while Liana Willis moves up to assistant editor. Kim-Mei Kirtland has been promoted to full agent at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency. Faber & Faber digital and new business director Henry Volans is leaving the company on November 17 to work for the Foreign Office.
Small Gains for Harper
News Corp. reported fiscal first quarter results through the end of September, with sales at HarperCollins rebounding by 3 percent, to $401 million. While ahead of last year’s $389 million, it’s still behind their $409 million in fiscal 2016 and $406 million in fiscal 2015. EBITDA rose by $2 million, to $50 million in the quarter. The gains were “primarily due to the continued popularity of Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance and The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson.” Digital sales grew 6 percent, driven “by growth in downloadable audio sales.” Report
Tracked Book Sales Down Slightly Through Q3
NPD Bookscan issued an executive summary of book sales trends through the third quarter of 2017. Print sales through outlets tracked by the service rose 2 percent (or 6 million units) through the first nine months, to 467 million units, as ebook sales counted through their companion PubTrack Digital service fell 13 million units, down 15 percent to 78 million units. That puts total tracked book units down 1.3 percent. Per trends from earlier in the year, frontlist print sales are down 5 percent as backlist sales are up 6 percent. On their list of top 10 print books for […]