At Grove Atlantic, Peter Blackstock is promoted to vp, deputy publisher, and his new responsibilities including beginning to work with ceo and publisher Morgan Entrekin on matters relating to business and finance. Amy Hundley is promoted to vp, executive editor, while continuing as director of subsidiary rights. More broadly, the company will raise their starting salary to $40,000 for full-time employees. A new executive committee has been formed to help with “day-to-day running of the company and larger business decisions.” It comprises Elisabeth Schmitz, Judy Hottensen and Deb Seager, as well as Hundley, Blackstock and Entrekin. Entrekin said in the […]
Best of So Far
USA Today’s best of 2020 list is the latest to land. Here is our weekly updated aggregation of the best of Best Books of 2019 lists, now with over 40 lists tabulated. Per last week’s initial glimpse, Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste remains the clear leader for consensus book of the year honors, with a number of novels receiving recognition. Today we split out a full top 10 in the making for fiction, along with a clear top 5 in nonfiction: The Very Best of the Best Books of 2020: Fiction 1. The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett [12] 2. Homeland Elegies, Ayad […]
AAR Changes to Focus On Literary Agents, Adds Non-Profit Arm
The Association of Authors’ Representatives has changed its name to the Association of American Literary Agents which “better reflects the membership and aligns the organization with its core mission of empowering and educating literary agents.” Along with the new name, the organization is updating its branding, communications, and website and aims to “offer deeper resources for members and writers.” The organization has a Twitter feed now, too. The AALA is also focused on helping to “build a more equitable publishing industry.” A new charitable non-profit arm, Literary Agents of Change, will “provide stipends for interns and a mentorship program to […]
Barnes & Noble Has Eliminated Almost A Third of Staff
The WSJ looks at Barnes & Noble’s turnaround efforts, focusing on the standard James Daunt storyline. Deep in the piece is the news: If December sales are good, then BN’s sales will be down 20 percent for the year. “In recent months” the company laid off about 5,000 employees, “the majority of whom worked part time.” Compared to April 2019, the chain has eliminated 7,500 jobs, now employing about 16,500 people. Half of the New York-based corporate staff has been eliminated, approximately 125 people. The story also notes that prior to the pandemic, Daunt had a weekly lunch with independent […]
The First of the Best of the Best Books of 2020
It’s time for the first installment of our signature aggregation of lists from all over that yield solid, consensus lists of the very best books of the year. With about 30 “votes” counted so far, this year shows close competition for “book of the year” honors — and experience indicates that the early leaders generally prevail at the end. If Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste prevails in the final count it would quite unusual, since the consensus “book of the year” is almost always a work of fiction. For now, here’s where the overall list (combining fiction and nonfiction) stands: The Very […]
No More Book Expo
Organizers Reed Pop announced Tuesday the end of Book Expo — as well as Book Con — which they are “retiring.” Last year’s show was cancelled due to the pandemic, and a 2021 show would have been hard to pull off on the normal schedule as well — particularly since the show itself had diminished steadily for years. Event director Jenny Martin explains in the announcement, “The pandemic arrived at a time in the life cycle of BookExpo and BookCon where we were already examining the restructure of our events to best meet our community’s needs. This has led us […]