Jackie Kim has joined Hay House as marketing director overseeing book marketing and PR.
Publishing Rethinks Its Use of “#OwnVoices”
In June, nonprofit children’s book organization We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) announced that it would stop using the term #OwnVoices, in favor of authors’ specific descriptions of themselves and their characters. WNDB said that use of the term has forced authors to self-identify in ways that are uncomfortable or dangerous; some diverse identities, such as disability or LGBTQ identities, aren’t self-evident. The hashtag has also become a way to police marginalized writers, “questioning authors who do have lived experience about whether they ‘count’ as ‘diverse enough’ to write about that specific community (for example, in making multiracial or bi+/pansexual authors […]
People 7/16
Daniel Marrs has joined nonfiction imprint Nelson Books as associate publisher. He was most recently at Ave Maria Press.
ABA Apologizes for Sending Paperback of Anti-Trans Book In July White Box
The American Booksellers Association received backlash online after including the paperback edition of Regnery’s Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters in the July White Box mailing, along with a promotional sales sheet. The book has been criticized as transphobic, and is the source of other controversies, including complaints from Amazon employees, two of whom resigned in protest over the company selling it. In a statement posted to Twitter Wednesday afternoon, the ABA wrote “An anti-trans book was included in our July mailing to members. This is a serious, violent incident that goes against ABA’s ends policies, values, and […]
Initiatives: S&S Submissions Guide
Simon & Schuster launched a Submission Selector, a database of S&S editors searchable by category and imprint. In an email to agents, ceo Jonathan Karp wrote, “The idea for this site came out of a conversation that our publishers were having related to remote work and how to make certain that agents ‘know’ all of our editors…. Our hope is that this database will simplify the submission process for you at Simon & Schuster as you quickly and easily find the perfect match for your projects.”
People 7/13
Parul Sehgal will join as staff writer at The New Yorker in September, writing review essays, profiles and more. She has been a book critic at the New York Times.