Vox Media acquired the online magazine about “drinks and drinking culture” Punch from Penguin Random House, to pair with their Eater franchise. Co-founder Talia Baiocchi remains with Punch as editor-in-chief. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt sold CliffsNotes to online learning platform Course Hero. HMH had acquired the line from Wiley in 2012 — which acquired it as part of their Hungry Minds/IDG Books purchase in 2001 (following IDG’s acquisition from founder Cliff Hillegass in 1998 for $14.2 million).
Archives for August 2021
Distribution
Beginning January 1, Soaring Kite Books will be distributed exclusively by Lerner Publisher Services.
New Books Publishing August 24
Peter Heller, Louise Penny, and William Kent Kreuger lead this week’s fiction releases, while nonfiction includes Thomas Wright and Colin Kahl. Also new this week are Honorée Fanonne Jeffers’ just-announced Oprah’s Book Club pick and Kat Chow’s memoir, both excerpted and available for download in our Buzz Books 2021: Spring/Summer sampler. 11 new works of fiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-fiction-publishing-august-24 https://shop.aer.io/publishers_lunch/cl/New_Fiction_Publishing_August_/219757 5 new nonfiction titles https://bookshop.org/lists/new-nonfiction-publishing-august-24 https://shop.aer.io/publishers_lunch/cl/New_Nonfiction_Publishing_August_/219758 We consult a number of sources in compiling our weekly lists and PM members can see our lists for the coming three months through this reference page. But if you want to make sure your key titles are […]
People 8/23
Novelist and literary director of the Sun Valley Writers Conference John Burnham Schwartz will join Penguin Press as editor at large.
Obituaries
Playwright, journalist, and book critic Gregg Barrios, 80, died of a heart attack on August 17. He served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle, and the San Antonio Express-News reports, “He served in Vietnam, taught school in tiny Texas towns, founded an influential film society at the University of Texas at Austin and spent time in the Factory, Andy Warhol’s famed studio in New York.” George Cisneros, co-founder of Texas arts group Urban-15, told the paper: “Gregg was the gregarious interrupter of the status quo who would not leave well enough alone. He never accepted a culture […]
Acquisitions: Saga Egmont Adds German Publisher
Digital publisher Saga Egmont has acquired German audiobook publisher Audiobuch Verlag, making them the largest audiobook publisher in Germany.