The Washington Post released its year end book package, including its top 10 books of the year. Selections include NBA winner Sarah Broom and Booker winner Bernardine Evaristo, plus NBA finalist Marlon James. Also on the list are Ben Lerner’s The Topeka School, and Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, both of which are excerpted and available for download in our Buzz Books 2019 Fall/Winter sampler. The full list: Fiction Black Leopard, Red Wolf, by Marlon James (Riverhead) Girl, Woman, Other, by Bernardine Evaristo (Black Cat) On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, by Ocean Vuong (Penguin Press) Strangers and Cousins, […]
Archives for November 2019
AAP September StatShot Shows Small Gains
AAP released its monthly StatShot for September, showing small gains in both adult and children’s books, based on data from 1,362 publishers. However, the adult sales figures from last year’s report were revised once again, making comparison less valuable. On balance, adult sales were about $6.5 million below the recent four-year average, and children’s sales were almost $14 million above the recent three-year average. Total adult trade sales for September were $479.3 million, compared to a final figure of $463.1 million for last September. But a year ago, September adult sales were initially reported to be $482 million. As has […]
National Book Awards: Choi Wins Fiction Prize, Along With Broom, Krasznahorkai, and More
At the 70th National Book Awards on Wednesday evening, Susan Choi’s Trust Exercise (Holt) won the fiction prize — an upset among publishers, at least, as Choi’s book was the only non-Penguin Random House finalist of the category. “I’m actually really surprised,” said a teary Choi before thanking her many collaborators. She added, “The longer I do this, write books and teach writing for a living, the more I’m struck with how it’s its own reward.” Sarah M. Broom’s The Yellow House (Grove) won the nonfiction prize. Broom offered a tribute to her family, noting her mother was with her […]
People, Etc.
Mike Nardullo will join Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency as agent and rights director. He was previously foreign rights director and agent at Foundry Literary + Media. He succeeds Elizabeth Fisher who has been with LGR for over 15 years and is leaving the industry to pursue other interests. Noah Schwartzberg has joined Portfolio as senior editor. He was previously senior editor at McGraw-Hill. At Random House Children’s, Megan Williams has been promoted to managing editor, operations; Elena Meuse becomes associate, publicity & corporate communications; and Kelly McGauley moves up to director, trade marketing. Alexis Banyon has joined Sourcebooks as […]
Yet Again, Springer Nature Said to Hope for An IPO
The various private equity companies that have traded educational publisher Springer for more than a decade now have hoped for an offering of shares to the public since at least 2012 if not earlier, both to help pay down a persistent debt load and to provide a pathway to an exit. The current incarnation of the company, the Springer Nature joint venture, came close to pulling it off in 2018 — but the offering on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange fell apart at the last minute. At first they reduced the share price and had 53-percent partner Holtzbrinck step in to […]
Bookselling: Amazon Books In Scottsdale, Interabang Reopens, and More
The 20th Amazon Books location opens today in Scottsdale, AZ in a modest 4,000-square-space. It features devices, toys, games, customer favorites and even some books. Though the stores originally did not disclose the discounted prices for Amazon Prime participants, they are now using electronic price tags to display a range of information. As promised, Interabang Books in Dallas will reopen Thursday in a temporary space after the store’s original home was wiped out by a tornado in October. The rebuilding of that shopping center could take a year or more. Former manager and events coordinator at Malaprop’s in North Carolina, […]