Gregory Henry has joined Apollo Publishers as publicist. Previously he ran Gregory Henry Literary. At a virtual meeting, the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) approved three new board members, who will start their terms on July 1: Joshua Boisvert, ReaderLink; Allen Johnson, Baker & Taylor; and Joshua Tallent, Firebrand Technologies. At Canongate, Hannah Knowles has been promoted to editorial director and Vicki Rutherford moves up to head of editorial management. Stuart Weir has joined Yale University Press London in the newly created role of production director, overseeing editorial, production and design for London-originated titles. He was most recently publishing operations […]
Archives for April 2020
Endeavor Looks to Raise More Capital, Judge Pares Screenwriters’ Suit, and More
As Endeavor starts informing roughly a third of its staff about who is fired, furloughed and/or set for working half-time, the company is also looking to raise another $250 million in financing to help it through the pandemic, the NY Post reports. In the meantime, Moody’s joined S&P Global Ratings in downgrading Endeavor’s considerable debt load to “negative” since their “liquidity position is projected to deteriorate until the impact of the coronavirus subsides.” In other agency news, California US District Court Judge Andre Birotte Jr. dismissed some of the Writers Guild antitrust claims against the big Hollywood agencies in the […]
Ninth Circuit Appeals Court to Review Fair Use In Star Trek-Seuss Mashup; Supreme Court Invalidates Copyright On Legal Annotations
Dr. Seuss Enterprises has now argued before a Federal Ninth Circuit Appeals Court its claim that a Star-Trek themed version of graduation-gift favorite Oh, the Places You’ll Go! violates its copyright. Last year, U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino had ruled that ComicMix’s Oh, the Places You’ll Boldly Go was fair use. Attorneys from DLA Piper argued the Star Trek book is attempting to serve as a market substitute for the original work, and that previous mash-ups of Seuss’ books, such as the Jim Henson puppet television series “The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss,” have been licensed. ComicMix alleges its book […]
New Books Publishing April 28
Even with the many changes in spring pub dates that we continue to track and update at publun.ch/pubdatechanges, another wave of new books comes to market today. (Since we started tracking pub date changes, 6 titles originally scheduled to release this week have been moved — including books by Laila Lalami, H. R. McMasters, and Andre Leon Talley.) As in recent weeks, we are ready to call attention to a number of notable titles publishing today in need of attention and support. Our sample Bookshop and Aerbook store carousels provide easy displays of: 13 new works of fiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-fiction-publishing-april-28 https://aerbook.com/store/publishers_lunch/New_Fiction_Publishing_April_28/215887 […]
Briefs
People Alessandra Bastagli has left her position as executive editor at Dey Street Books for a new opportunity to be announced shortly. Distribution Welbeck Publishing Group will be sold and distributed in the US by Two Rivers Distribution, starting July 2020. Forthcoming Dey Street Books will reportedly publish a biography of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle titled THOROUGHLY MODERN ROYALS: THE REAL WORLD OF HARRY AND MEGHAN by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand on August 11. The couple is said to have cooperated with the authors and provided an interview. The book was initially planned for June publication. Relief Laid […]
AAP February Stat Shot Recalls Better Days Before the Lockdown
The AAP’s February Stat Shot report, from 1,361 publishers, reminds us that trade publishers were having a good start to the year before the pandemic changed everything. Trade sales were $478.7 million in February, up from $454.5 million, with increases in both adult and children’s shipments, buoyed by adult hardback sales (which have been in notable decline while physical store are closed). In February, adult print sales registered to $209.8 million, up $17.5 million from a year ago. Children’s print sales were modestly higher, at $121.6 million, up $5.8 million. Previous trends continued in digital, with audio continuing to grow […]