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 […]
Private Equity Giant EQT Takes Major Stake In UTA
Swedish-based private equity firm EQT has become a large “strategic investor” in UTA, as the largest outside shareholder in the firm. They are buying out investment firm Investcorp’s full minority stake, and are also acquiring a “portion of existing stakes” from others shareholders including PSP Investments. In 2018, Investcorp and PSP Investments bought approximately 40 percent of the agency, for an estimated $200 million. Investcorp executive Dave Tayeh proclaims, “Our investment in UTA was highly successful.” The deal is expected to close later this month, and is one of the first transactions for EQT’s newest fund, which will range from […]
Your PL Antitrust Trial Viewer’s Guide
As Congress’s January 6 hearings start to wind down, just four-tenths of a mile away at the District Court of Columbia Federal Court publishing’s own must-follow trial is due to start on August 1. The Department of Justice’s suit to block Penguin Random House’s acquisition of Simon & Schuster — henceforth to be called A3 for brevity (August/Antitrust; three weeks of trial) — can be viewed by many in publishing in a similar vein as J6: A laborious investigation culminates with a public airing of findings that few expect to alter the course of the events, no matter what they […]
A3: When and Where
The A3 trial begins on August 1, in the Washington District Court of Columbia Federal Court, at 333 Constitution Avenue. The nearest landmark is the National Gallery of Art’s East Building, which just reopened after a renovation. Teams PRH and S&S and their counsel are reported to all be staying at the St. Regis, right near the White House (with a DC outpost of PJ Clarke’s right across the street). Consider it the Frankfurter Hof of the trial — though agents and executives called by the government as their witnesses may keep their distance. It’s a long walk (1.7 miles) […]