Merry Sun will join Norton Trade as senior editor in January. She was most recently editor at Portfolio.
Archives for December 2023
AAP International Freedom to Publish Award
Association of American Publishers awarded its 2023 International Freedom to Publish Award to "all publishing houses in multiple countries and regions of the world that continued to publish in the face of increased government pressure, harassment, and threats."
The Year In Legal News: Part 1
This year, publishing’s biggest legal battles centered on a few topics: AI, book banning, and the long-running suit filed by major publishers against the Internet Archive. Copyright was at the center of many of our stories–and will continue to be as lawsuits stretch into the new year. Due to the complexity of several ongoing cases, we’ve split our annual roundup into two parts, with the first focused on the Internet Archive suit and the many class action suits brought by authors and publishers against OpenAI and Meta for copyright infringement. Internet Archive In March, a suit brought by the AAP […]
Lerner Acquires Gecko Press
Lerner Publishing Group has acquired New Zealand children’s book publisher Gecko Press, for an undisclosed sum. Gecko has been distributed by Lerner in the US for the past 13 years, and will operate as an international imprint. Starting January 1, Lerner will handle fulfillment, customer service, and general publishing and business management for Gecko worldwide. The company will continue to acquire from New Zealand, and it will keep its distribution partnerships with Bounce in the UK and Walker Books in ANZ. Under the new organization, Gecko plans to launch 18-20 new titles in 2024. Gecko associate publisher Rachel Lawson will “oversee […]
Obituary: David Burr Gerrard
Author of Short Century and The Epiphany Machine David Burr Gerrard died on December 8. He taught writing at the New School, Manhattanville College, and elsewhere. A GoFundMe has been set up to support his wife, Grace Bello, and his daughter, Amelia Bello-Gerrard.
SPD Website Experiences Cyber Attack
The Small Press Distribution (SPD) website experienced a denial-of-service attack on Friday, disabling the site, ordering system, and email communications. No customer data or private information was compromised, the company said, and the website was back up and running on Sunday evening. Executive director Kent Watson stated, “This attack comes at a very busy time as SPD continues to pick, pack, and ship books for hundreds of presses. Senseless acts like this harm independent publishers, booksellers, and readers.”