Bloomsbury continues to reorganize its executive ranks, following the hiring of Ian Hudson as managing director of the consumer publishing division earlier this year and the departure of Emma Hopkin at the end of 2020. In a restructuring of the consumer division at Bloomsbury USA, publishing director Cindy Loh and two others will leave at the end of February. Loh has overseen both adult and children’s publishing since late 2016. Nancy Miller, Liese Mayer, and Mary Kate Castellani will report to executive director and coo Adrienne Vaughan, who will take on the duties of publishing director. Vaughan says in the announcement, […]
Center Street to Shift to Thoughtful Books Over Incitement; Fired Kate Hartson
Center Street editorial director Kate Hartson was fired recently, the NYT reports, saying “she told associates that she believed she’d been fired for her politics.” Hartson published Donald Trump Jr., Jeanine Pirro, Corey Lewandowski, Newt Gingrich and the recent book Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy. She was “a true believer in Donald J. Trump, people who worked with her said.” Hachette Nashville publisher Daisy Hutton told the paper by email: “The conservative movement is in a state of flux, and the next few years will be a particularly rich time for conversation about the future of conservatism […]
Facing Closure of Bank Accounts, McGuigan Asks Court to Expedite Appointment of Receiver
In updated court documents, Peter McGuigan filed an order to show cause motion, seeking an immediate court order transferring the client funds and operating accounts of his former literary agency Foundry to a temporary receiver. The urgency comes because McGuigan says in an affadavit that Foundry’s bank issued a notice that they will close the accounts on February 26. The documents note, “The Plaintiffs are extremely concerned that the bank’s decision may cause the Defendants, or their accomplices to become in possession of all, or a portion of funds presently on account, which will be unequivocally detrimental to the security […]
People, Etc.
At Macmillan Children’s, Kate Avino has been promoted to assistant editor, Odd Dot; Foyinsi Adegbonmire to associate editor, Feiwel and Friends; Samia Fakih to assistant editor, First Second Books; Kiara Valdez to associate editor, First Second Books; Trisha de Guzman to editor, FSG Children’s; Allegra Green to marketing manager; Dawn Ryan to executive managing editor; and Aurora Parlagreco to associate art director. Miyako Singer has been promoted to publishing operations associate at Catapult/Counterpoint/Soft Skull Press. Awards The ALA’s Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence were given to Deacon King Kong by James McBride and Fathoms: The World in the Whale! by Rebecca Giggs. […]
Harper Has Strong Holiday Quarter
In line with a strong holiday for book sales, HarperCollins reported a big fiscal second quarter: Sales reached $540 million, up $102 million over the same quarter last year, and EBITDA rose to $104 million, compared to $63 million a year ago. (The holiday quarter in 2019 was a soft one for the publisher, however; two years ago they had second quarter sales of $496 million and EBITDA of $88 million.) The sales increase included $13 million from recent acquisitions (the Egmont businesses bought earlier in the year) and $5 million in foreign exchange gains. Acquisitions added $3 million to […]
Firebrand and NetGalley Sold to Japan’s Media Do
Quality Solutions/Firebrand Technologies and NetGalley have been sold to Media Do International, the US-based subsidiary of Japanese ebook distribution company Media Do Ltd. Founder and ceo Fran Toolan will remain on as CEO for a minimum of three years. Media Do has been NetGalley’s reseller partner in Japan since it launched there in 2016. Media Do International ceo Daihei Shiohama says in the announcement, “We are very pleased to bring Firebrand and NetGalley into the Media Do family. We have long respected the works of the Firebrand Group, and are very excited about the prospects of working closely with them […]