Bestselling biographer Anne Edwards, 96, died of lung cancer on January 20 in Los Angeles. She wrote biographies of Vivien Leigh, Judy Garland, Ronald Reagan, and Princess Diana, among others, as well as novels, memoirs, and children’s books, and was president of the Authors Guild in 1981. Science fiction author Christopher Priest, 80, died of cancer on February 2. The was the author of THE PRESTIGE, which was adapted into film by Christopher Nolan. At the time of his death, Priest was writing a biography of novelist J.G. Ballard.
Vivendi Proposes Splitting Up Its Companies
Vivendi has proposed splitting its divisions into separate companies, each of which will be listed on the stock market, the company announced this week. “Since the distribution and listing of Universal Music Group in 2021, Vivendi has endured a significantly high conglomerate discount, substantially reducing its valuation and thereby limiting its ability to carry out external growth transactions for its subsidiaries,” they said in a release. Publishing and distribution assets will make up one group, including Vivendi’s controlling stake in Lagardere and their ownership of French media company Prisma. “This entity would foster collaboration between the different activities related to […]
Print Unit Sales Declined in 2023
Circana Bookscan announced full-year statistics for 2023, reporting print unit sales of 767 million, a decline of 3 percent from 2022. Adult fiction sales grew for the fifth year in a row, up 1.5 million units or 1 percent, driven by fantasy, romance, coming-of-age, and historical fiction. Young adult books grew as well, led by driven by the dystopian books, romances, and thrillers. Children’s books, however, saw a sharp decline–influencing the full year’s drop–with sales down 13.5 million units. Fantasy, magic, and humor books fell from their high sales in 2022. “Despite an overall decline and keeping in mind that […]
S&S Turns 100
Simon & Schuster will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2024 with an event on April 8 at Town Hall in NYC, featuring more than 30 S&S authors, including Judy Blume, Sandra Boynton, Ray Dalio, Anthony Doerr, Angela Duckworth, Erica Armstrong Dunbar, Jennifer Egan, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Sanjay Gupta, Zakiya Dalila Harris, John Irving, Walter Isaacson, Susan Orlean, Jason Reynolds, Safiya Sinclair, Brad Thor, Colm Tóibín, Jeannette Walls, Jesmyn Ward, and Bob Woodward. The company also announced The Simon & Schuster 100, “titles from our history that are believed to best represent the breadth and depth of the company’s publishing program, […]
People 2/1
At Simon & Schuster, Julia Prosser has been promoted to vp, associate publisher, publicity & marketing.
Hugos Administrator Censured, Resigned After Awards Controversy
Hugo Awards administrator Dave McCarty was censured by the awards governing body and resigned from his post after public outcry over a document that showed certain nominated works were “not eligible” for the awards. On Sunday, McCarty posted an apology to his personal Facebook page, where he had been posting updates about the awards and responding to queries–often rudely–about the awards statistics. “Most of my responses there were inappropriate, unprofessional, condescending, and a number were clearly insulting,” he wrote. “I made things worse.” Still, he declined to give further explanation on the awards. “The statement that the administration team has previously […]