Kerry Eltman has joined Fox Chapel Publishing as chief financial officer. Previously he was controller at The Jay Group, a logistics and supply chain company.
John Aardema has joined Sourcebooks in the newly created position of art director in the entertainment & gift group. He spent the past nine years as a freelance art director.
William LoTurco has joined Kuhn Projects as an associate agent. Previously, he was at Vigliano Associates and WME.
The Romance Writers of America announced its Golden Heart and RITA Award winners at its annual conference in San Antonio, TX last Friday.
As of Monday morning, the effect of Kindle Unlimited on the hourly Kindle bestseller list remained strong. 27 of the top 50 titles and 43 of the top 100 are KU titles. Amazon’s own publishing imprints remain the biggest beneficiary:
Top 100 Distribution Monday Morning
18 Amazon Publishing titles
15 KDP Select/KU titles
10 Traditional publisher titles that are included in Kindle Unlimited
15 Non-exclusive self-published titles (not included in Kindle Unlimited)
Last Thursday the Authors Guild posted on how “Amazon-Hachette Debate Yields Diverse Opinions Among Authors.” The post highlighted how two Council Members, Douglas Preston and self-published bestseller C.J. Lyons “have taken different public stands in defense of serious authors.” The organization wrote: “The Authors Guild is committed to an inclusive, big-tent approach to its mission as the published writer’s advocate. The recent clash between Amazon and Hachette Book Group has called attention to the contrasting viewpoints of traditionally-published and self-published authors. During this dispute the Guild has spoken out against Amazon’s tactics—which needlessly imperil the livelihoods of authors who are not involved in the negotiations—while also challenging the major publishing houses to revisit the parsimonious stance they’ve taken on authors’ e-book royalties.”
But the comments thread drew a variety of pent-up complaints about the Guild until it was closed (and some writers complained in their posts that earlier efforts to comment had been blocked). Among the posts is an anonymous Hachette author: “I’m not financially successful enough to wave away the repeated offers of fair recompense for the financial damage I’ve suffered. I have no idea why Hachette, the Author’s Guild, and some of Hachette’s most successful and renowned authors have all decided to turn them down on my behalf. I don’t dare put my name to any complaint, however, because I don’t want to jeopardize my relationships with my agent and my publishers. This is precisely why we need a functional Author’s Guild.”