Forthcoming
FSG will publish a new novel by Jonathan Franzen, titled CROSSROADS, the first in his trilogy, A Key to All Mythologies, in October 2021. The publisher writes that the novel is “the beginning of a story that encompasses all the ‘mythologies’—the political, religious, and intellectual crosscurrents—that have animated and troubled American life in recent decades.”
FSG president Jonathan Galassi said, “Franzen has been universally recognized as the leading novelist of his generation, an inheritor of Steinbeck and Faulkner. He has been telling us the inner history of contemporary America in novel after novel, from The Twenty-Seventh City to The Corrections to Freedom, culminating now in A Key to All Mythologies.”
Separately, Scholastic announced that it will publish three picture books by civil rights advocate Ruby Bridges, author of Through My Eyes (also from Scholastic, in 1999) and the first Black student to attend an all-white elementary school. The first, I Am Ruby Bridges, will be published in 2022, followed by Dear Ruby Bridges: Letters from Kids Speaking up for a Better World and A Talk with My Teacher in 2023. As noted earlier this week, Delacorte Press just published This Is Your Time by Bridges on Tuesday.
Acquisitions
Chronicle Books has acquired three toy and game brands from the UK’s Wild + Wolf: eco-friendly toy and gift brand Petit Collage; Ridley’s Games, featuring “imaginative and original trend-led games for all ages;” and Games Room, trivia decks and games. They call it “a major step in Chronicle Books’ strategic growth strategy. This move greatly extends Chronicle’s already substantial reach in the gift, game, and entertainment categories around the world.” President of Chronicle Books Tyrrell Mahoney said, “The Ridley’s, Petit Collage, and Games Room brands align seamlessly with our mission to spark the passions of adults and children worldwide and will complement Chronicle’s distinctive publishing program, as well as those of our distribution clients.”
Chronicle will establish a UK subsidiary, Chronicle Books Limited, and “will bring on board a number of Wild + Wolf creative staff to lead and develop the future program out of Bath, England [where Wild + Wolf is headquartered], and in San Francisco.” As of January, all distribution and sales representation will move to Chronicle Books in the US; Abrams & Chronicle Books in the United Kingdom and Europe; and Raincoast Books in Canada.
Distribution
Academic Studies Press, which is distributed by Ingram Academic, is now managing sales and distribution for Plamen Press as their sub-distributor.
Education
Cengage reported earnings for their 2021 fiscal second quarter ended September 30, with adjusted sales of $534 million, down from $543 million in the prior period, or 2 percent, weighed down by the impact of coronavirus on international and school sales. Online skills sales, meanwhile, grew more than 40 percent. Adjusted EBITDA was $261 million, up from $238 million. For the fiscal year through September, print again shrunk as a percentage of the company’s higher ed sales, to 34 percent from 45 percent last year.