Romance author Sophie Lark is “pausing” the publication of SPARROW AND VINE and other books in the series after criticism surfaced online, she wrote on Instagram. The first in a planned series, SPARROW AND VINE was due to be published by Bloom Books on April 22. Early readers noted insensitive lines in the book, spoken by the main character without any pushback or disagreement from other characters or in the text. In one instance, Lark writes, “Shouldn’t there be a crew of people with questionable work visas picking these grapes for us?” In another, she writes, “I was inspired by […]
Archives for March 2025
Reese Witherspoon’s March Book Club Pick
Bonnier Books Hits Record Sales in 2024
Bonnier Books reported results for the full year 2024, with net sales of SEK 8.39 billion, up 4 percent from 2023—a record for the company. EBITDA fell 10 percent to SEK 684 million, though they say “adjusted for items affecting comparability, [the number] represents an improvement of SEK 176 million.” Sales improved in Sweden, Finland, and the UK, and Germany “once again had a good year.” The books and news segments contributed to overall success for the company, ceo Erik Haegerstrand said in a release. Overall group net sales increased slightly to SEK 23.19 billion and EBITDA was “the highest […]
Obituary: Bruce Westwood
Founder of Westwood Creative Artists Bruce Westwood, 84, died peacefully at home on February 28. Originally a venture capitalist, he paired with Sterling Lord to create Sterling Lord Canada, and then created WCA in 1995 following the acquisition of McKnight Gosewich Associates and the Lucinda Vardey Agency. The agency notes that, “Bruce’s foundational belief was to build from within, and he was so pleased that the new owners of the agency came up through its ranks. If you’d like to honor Bruce’s memory and legacy, we can think of no more appropriate way than to raise a glass of rosé […]
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Broader Horizons
In keeping with the times, we have reformatted the field for a Twitter handle on our PM Member Profiles to accommodate a full range of social media monikers. Using the tools on the Your Account page to edit your profile, in the Contact information section, look for the renamed Social URL field to update your information. You will need to enter the full URL, but you can link to Bluesky, Instagram, etc. as you wish. (We are happily posting publishing news again on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/publisherslunch.bsky.social.)