Walter Isaacson has joined Arcadia Publishing in the part-time role of editor-at-large and senior advisor, and he will be an investor in the company as well. Isaacson will acquire, edit and promote books for Arcadia, as well assisting the company in developing new strategies and partnerships. Former president and chief executive of Book-of-the-Month Club and then editor at Viking Books Al Silverman, 92, died at home on March 10. He was the author The Time of Their Lives: The Golden Age of Great American Book Publishers, Their Editors and Authors, as well as the collaborator with football great Gale Sayers on […]
Archives for March 2019
AAP’s January StatShot Shows 7 Percent Decline in Adult Trade
The AAP released their StatShot publisher-reported monthly sales statistics for January. As we have explained before, the statistics for any given month turn out to have little or no statistical significance, particular for the print categories. The current report has adult trade sales at $352.5 in January 2019 (down 7 percent from $380 million last January), with hardcover sales 10 percent lower and mass market sales 18 percent lower. Children’s and YA increased 4 percent, to $137 million from $132 million. Children’s hardbacks and paperbacks showed slight increases, with board books up 15 percent. Digital audio continued to gain, at […]
PEN America and the Authors Guild Stand Against Quad/LSC Merger
Monopoly watchdog group the Open Markets Institute has filed a brief, signed jointly by PEN America and the Authors Guild, encouraging the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division “to block the merger between the two sole competitors in the long-run magazine and book printing markets,” Quad and LSC Communications. In October, Quad (formerly Quad Graphics) announced a deal to acquire LSC, and in February secured the credit to finance the $1.4 billion deal. The deal requires regulatory approval and is currently under review. Open Market’s March 6 letter argues that Quad and LSC represent the only two options for the printing […]
Apple’s Soon-to-Be Revealed Streaming Service Features Many Book Adaptations
As Apple prepares to explain their long-in-the-works streaming video service at a March 25 event in Cupertino, CA, there’s more word in advance regarding one book-related project. Last August a deal was announced for a “sizable script-to-series commitment” to develop Min Jin Lee’s PACHINKO as a series. Now comes confirmation that Apple has made an eight-episode series order — backed by a “premium budget” and ambition to rival Netflix’s The Crown, in making the series in Korean, Japanese and English. Other books in development at Apple for streaming include Hilde Lysiak and Matthew Lysiak’s HILDE CRACKS THE CASE and William […]
Kelly’s Lost Roses Tops April’s Library Reads
Lost Roses by Martha Hall Kelly is the top pick for April’s Library Reads list. Also on the list are Tracey Garvis Graves’ The Girl He Used to Know and Melanie Golding’s Little Darlings, both excerpted and available for download in our Buzz Books 2019 Spring/Summer sampler. The rest of the picks: The Invited, by Jennifer McMahon Miracle Creek, by Angie Kim The Mother-In-Law, by Sally Hepworth Normal People, by Sally Rooney Save Me the Plums, by Ruth Reichl Southern Lady Code, by Helen Ellis Women Talking, by Miriam Toews
People, Etc.
Ben Ball will join Simon & Schuster Australia in the newly created role of publishing director, Scribner. He will report to managing director Dan Ruffino, leading the recently launched Australian arm of the imprint. He was previously with Penguin Group Australia for 12 years, most recently as publishing director, literary. Keith Riegert will rejoin Ulysses Press, as evp and publisher on April 1. He worked in marketing analytics at Hachette Book Group for the past two years. Bryce Willett is stepping down as evp, but will continue to serve as a consultant for the press. Casie Vogel has been promoted to […]