Samantha Zukergood has been promoted to assistant marketing manager at Flatiron Books. Daniel Berkowitz has joined Open Road Integrated Media as director of audience monetization. Obituaries Anthony Veasna So, whose debut book Afterparties is forthcoming from Ecco in August 2021, died unexpectedly on December 8. Friends have launched a crowdfunding campaign to help support his partner. Karl Killian, 77, founder of Houston’s Brazos Bookstore and literary nonprofit Inprint, died on December 9. Studies The New York Times published the results of a study aiming to determine how many Black authors were published by major publishing houses between 1950 and 2018. […]
Archives for December 2020
Best of So Far
USA Today’s best of 2020 list is the latest to land. Here is our weekly updated aggregation of the best of Best Books of 2019 lists, now with over 40 lists tabulated. Per last week’s initial glimpse, Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste remains the clear leader for consensus book of the year honors, with a number of novels receiving recognition. Today we split out a full top 10 in the making for fiction, along with a clear top 5 in nonfiction: The Very Best of the Best Books of 2020: Fiction 1. The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett [12] 2. Homeland Elegies, Ayad […]
More Top Tens: People, LA Times, Wall Street Journal
People chose its top 10 books of the year, including titles by Sue Miller and Brit Bennett, excerpted and available for download now in our Buzz Books 2020 sampler. 1. Hidden Valley Road, by Robert Kolker 2. Hamnet, by Maggie O’Farrell 3. A Promised Land, by Barack Obama 4. What Are You Going Through, by Sigrid Nunez 5. Notes on a Silencing, by Lacy Crawford 6. Caste, by Isabel Wilkerson 7. Writers & Lovers, by Lily King 8. Monogamy, by Sue Miller 9. The Vanishing Half, by Brit Bennett 10. The Lying Life of Adults, by Elena Ferrante The Wall […]
People, Etc.
At Macmillan, Dan Schwartz has been promoted to chief financial officer, US trade & shared services, reporting jointly to ceo Don Weisberg and global coo Andrew Weber. Clare O’Rourke has been promoted to evp, finance & accounting. Cameron Ackroyd will join on January 4 as svp, trade finance, overseeing the trade finance and data science teams. He previously directed the business management and finance group for Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Former ceo of Macmillan John Sargent left the company earlier this week. Removed as president and publisher of Ecco in September, Daniel Halpern will leave the company on December 31, […]
AAR Changes to Focus On Literary Agents, Adds Non-Profit Arm
The Association of Authors’ Representatives has changed its name to the Association of American Literary Agents which “better reflects the membership and aligns the organization with its core mission of empowering and educating literary agents.” Along with the new name, the organization is updating its branding, communications, and website and aims to “offer deeper resources for members and writers.” The organization has a Twitter feed now, too. The AALA is also focused on helping to “build a more equitable publishing industry.” A new charitable non-profit arm, Literary Agents of Change, will “provide stipends for interns and a mentorship program to […]
Knopf Random House Canada to Split, Becoming Knopf Canada and Random House Canada
Knopf Random House Canada will split in the new year, becoming Knopf Canada and Random House Canada, which will operate as independent divisions. The two lines had been consolidated in 2009. Additionally, Anne Collins, publisher of Knopf Random House Canada for 11 years, will change roles, becoming executive editor and vice president, Random House Canada, starting January 4. Penguin Random House Canada ceo Kristin Cochrane writes in the announcement, “While the Knopf Random House Canada group has been successful as a division since these two storied imprints were put together over a decade ago, I believe the time is right […]