Macmillan announced a number of promotions and new hires.
S&S Sales Rise 34% in Q2
Paramount reported second quarter earnings for the period ended June 30, with Simon & Schuster sales totaling $293 million, up 34 percent from $219 million last year. Operating income was $80 million, compared to $52 million in 2021, a 54 percent increase. According to a memo to staff from ceo Jonathan Karp, each of the company’s four divisions—adult, children’s, audio, and international—grew in the double digits. Sales of backlist titles popular on social media, predominantly “queen of TikTok” Colleen Hoover, drove results. “It Ends with Us, which we first published in 2016, was the bestselling novel in the trade paperback […]
New Play Dedicated to Russell Perreault
On August 5, TheaterWorks in Hartford, CT will debut Secondo, a sequel to the play I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti by Jacques Lamarre, adapted from the memoir by former publishing professional Giulia Melucci. Currently vp of marketing and communications at Harper’s Magazine, Mellucci and Lamarre dedicate Secondo to the late Vintage Anchor vp Russell Perreault, who introduced them when Lamarre was working on the play adaptation of Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking.
People 8/3
Former director of film/TV at Franklin & Siegal Erin Hennicke has started her own agency, BookSmart Literary Scouting.
Agencies: YMU Launches U.S. Books Division
Talent management company YMU has launched a books arm in the U.S., led by Aram Fox. Fox comes from Aram Fox Literary Scouting, which represented international publishers and US film companies. The U.S. opening follows that of a literary division in the UK, headed by global managing director, literary Amanda Harris, which “has grown exponentially over the last two years” according to a release. Based in New York, Fox will report to Harris and represent YMU’s clients–including music, entertainment, sports, social, and arts talent–in North America, and sign new clients.
Pande Testimony Supports Both Sides
Ayesha Pande at Ayesha Pande Literary is one of the few literary agents that the DOJ will be calling to testify directly at length in the A3 trial, but when her appearance concluded on Tuesday morning, it left some people wondering how her evidence supports the case against the merger. She did ratify the government’s argument that the big five are unto themselves in terms of their ability to consistently pay big advances and bring to bear best-in-breed marketing, publicity and sales clout. Pande noted that even for her authors who have published successfully with a smaller, independent house, “it […]