As some of you may have noticed, we are finishing up another expansion and revision of Deals/Dealmakers categories, this time with an emphasis on our sprawling nonfiction section. Long overdue (someone finally asked), we have created a Body, Mind & Spirit category, so those projects will no longer be scattered among multiple ill-fitting tags. We have also split the rather unwieldy History/Politics/Current Affairs into two separate groups: History, on its own, and Politics/Current Affairs (which still holds a wide spectrum of topics, including climate, race, feminism, gender, legal & justice, urban studies, education and more, often broadly related to social […]
A3: DOJ and PRH State Their Cases In Pre-Trial Filings
On Friday, the Department of Justice and Penguin Random House both filed their formal pre-trial briefs with the court for the upcoming A3 antitrust trial, framing in advance their core arguments and counterpoints. As in their original complaint, the DOJ focuses on their core argument that the acquisition of Simon & Schuster “would further entrench the largest publishing giant in the United States (and the world) and give the merged company control of nearly half of the market to acquire anticipated top-selling books [ATSB] from authors.” They allege that the “merger would likely result in authors of anticipated top-selling books […]
A3: More On Walsh, Printing Issues
In other filings from the court docket over the weekend, the DOJ further illuminated their position on two issues that Judge Florence Pan is expected to rule on Monday (there is a pre-trial conference that started at 10 AM): Whether Jennifer Rudolph Walsh will be deemed an expert witness, and the question of admitting information about Bertelsmann’s position of strength in the US book printing market. Regarding Walsh, the government says she is no more of an “expert” than most of the industry witnesses, and should not be differentiated that way or allowed to opine beyond her own experiences as […]
Open Road Launches Marketing Service for Frontlist Books
Best known for their Ignition service that markets, manages and distributes backlist ebooks for other publishers, Open Road is launching Activation, a service available to all publishers to help market frontlist titles. The initiative formalizes and expands upon campaigns and promotions Open Road has offered recently through their content vertical websites and newsletters, which they say reach audiences of over 3 million readers. Open Road chief marketing officer Mary McAveney says in the announcement, “Publishers everywhere are seeing their Facebook ad costs rise dramatically and their campaigns less effective because of recent privacy changes. While protecting consumer privacy, Open Road […]
Agent Stephanie Sinclair Named Publisher of McClelland & Stewart
Literary agent at CookeMcDermid Stephanie Sinclair will become publisher of McClelland & Stewart and Hazlitt at Penguin Random House Canada starting October 3, as Jared Bland steps down from his role to the take the new position of vp, communications and community for PRH Canada. Sinclair, who identifies as Cree, Ojibwe, and German/Jewish settler, began her agenting career at Transatlantic Literary Agency in 2012. CEO of Penguin Random House Canada Kristin Cochrane said in the announcement: “The last six years at McClelland & Stewart have been a time of remarkable creative, critical, and commercial success, and while I was surprised […]
Canedy to Step Down As Simon & Schuster Publisher to Write A New Book, Karp to Lead Imprint
Exactly two years after joining Simon & Schuster as publisher of the adult imprint, Dana Canedy will relinquish her position. She will write a sequel to her memoir A Journal for Jordan that S&S plans to publish in 2024. While the company awaits word on whether the sale to Penguin Random House will go through, CEO Jonathan Karp will “resume my previous role of publisher for the foreseeable future.” Karp says in a memo Canedy “has improved and bolstered the Simon & Schuster imprint in innumerable ways: by attracting incredibly talented authors and editors; by offering us fresh eyes on […]