The new spin-off company created by Vivendi, the Louis Hachette Group, started trading in France on Monday morning. The stock was priced at €1.12 per share, giving the company an initial market capitalization of €1.11 billion–though shares jumped at the open, trading above €1.40 per share during the morning. The group comprises Vivendi’s controlling share in Lagardere, which still trades on its own, as well as Prisma Media. The value of the new spinoff seems modest, however, given that Lagardere on its own has a market cap of almost €3 billion.
Amazon Aspires (and Hires) to “Enhanc[e] the Book Publishing and Reading Experience Using Cutting-Edge AI Technology”
Amazon has a job listing for a position in India for a senior applied scientist, book content experience, as part of a “Publishing & Reading Science team,” looking for people “who are passionate about Reading and are willing to take Reading to the next level.” The goal is “leveraging advances in AI to improve the Reading experience for Kindle customers, and the Publishing experience for book content creators and distributors” by “making publishers lives easier through AI.” The corpus appears to be book content that was provided for a far different purpose (and might be restricted, depending upon your agreements): […]
The Next of the Best of the Best Books of 2024
With about 50 “votes” counted, we are closing in on our final aggregations of the very best of the “best books of the year,” now with full lists in all of our tracked categories. The fiction picks remain dominant, in keeping with the year’s sales and mood, and Percival Everett’s JAMES towers above all others. The rest of the adult lists are pretty firm at this point, with a little room at the bottom, particularly among nonfiction. Next week we’ll share the PM staff’s own picks and at the end of the week we will publish the final lists, with editor, […]
Sourcebooks Audio to Launch In 2025
In January a new Sourcebooks Audio line will release its first titles, initially producing audio versions of mysteries from Poisoned Pen Press and romance novels from Sourcebooks Casablanca, as well as nonfiction from the Callisto imprint. Catherine Bucaria is vp, publisher of Sourcebooks Audio, having previously served as director of audio strategy & acquisitions at Penguin Random House, and Almeda Beynon is director of audio production, after working as executive producer of audio at Harper Collins. The Sourcebook Audio lines will operate as imprints within Penguin Random House Audio. (PRH owns 75 percent of Sourcebooks, though the publisher operates independently.) […]
Friendly Skies
We stopped posting at the Bad Place a long time ago, when it became clear that the algorithm demanded payment — either in cash or provocative “engagement” — to actually reach any of your “followers.” So it has been a pleasure to watch a real community emerge again over at BlueSky, where we have started to share publishing news again. And we have loved seeing so many authors using the platform to share their deal report screenshots. Join us if you like: @publisherslunch.bsky.social
Agency News: Einstein Joins Dunow, Carlson & Lerner
As of January 1, 2025, Susanna Einstein will join Dunow, Carlson & Lerner as an agent, as will her colleague Susan Graham. Einstein has run Einstein Literary Management since 2015. (Prior to that, she was a partner in Einstein Thompson Agency, which was the successor to LJK Literary Management.) Einstein says in the announcement: “I’ve loved building my company over the past decade, but with the ongoing changes in publishing, and the isolation of our post-pandemic work-life, I’m more than ready for the collegiality of a larger group. I’ve known Jen, Henry, and Betsy for many years and have long […]