BEA organizers have announced the books to be featured on the convention’s three “buzz” book panels for adult, young adult, and middle grade books. with one panel each day starting on Wednesday. The adult panel is on Wednesday afternoon (May 29), with the YA panel on Thursday morning and the middle grade panel on Friday morning. In one marked variation, the adult panel, which usually comprises mostly fiction, will feature four nonfiction books this year. Adult All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood by Jennifer Senior (Ecco, January 2014) Knocking on Heavens Door: The Path to a […]
Apollo Lines Up Financing for McGraw-Hill Education Purchase; Will Pay More Cash
The sale of McGraw-Hill’s education unit to Apollo Global Management is expected to close before the end of the month now that the private equity firm has lined up financing for the acquisition. With that financing comes a slight revision of terms in which McGraw-Hill will receive more cash upon closing than planned, in exchange for what looks like a slight reduction of the selling price. The original agreement called for a price of approximately $2.5 billion, but that deal included McGraw-Hill providing $250 million of financing in the form of senior unsecured notes. But now McGraw-Hill says they will receive […]
People, Etc.
Kevin Powers won the PEN/Hemingway Award for his debut novel THE YELLOW BIRDS. He will receive his award at a ceremony at the JFK Presidential Library & Museum on March 24. In the UK, Tesco has hired Gavin Sathianathan to head their ebook portion of their blinkbox digital media offer, to launch later this year. Tesco had purchased Mobcast last September as the foundation of their ebook program. They will offer digital books, music and movies under the blinkbox name. Currently working at Facebook, Sathianathan had worked as an intern at the previous incarnation of blinkbox (a streaming video company). […]
HMH to Pull Second Lehrer Book HOW WE DECIDE From Stores
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced Friday that it is “taking…off sale” Jonah Lehrer’s 2009 book HOW WE DECIDE. In an email to the Daily Beast HMH publisher Bruce Nichols said an internal review “uncovered significant problems with the book” and as a result, has “no plans to reissue it in the future.” Nichols added that HMH will “shortly alert accounts about How We Decide and offer to refund returns” — similar to the approach taken when the publisher pulled Lehrer’s third book, IMAGINE, from sale last July, following the discovery of fabricated quotes — but that PROUST WAS A NEUROSCIENTIST, Lehrer’s […]
Briefs: Macmillan Library Lending Begins; Scottish Publisher Mainstream To Stop Publishing New Books
As previously announced, Macmillan officially began lending digital books to libraries Friday with 1200 backlist Minotaur Books titles under a pilot program. Macmillan ebooks will be available in the one copy/one user lending model for the earlier of two years or 52 checkouts for $25 each. Scottish publisher Mainstream will cease publishing new titles by the end of 2013 after more than 35 years in business. Titles already under contract and scheduled for publication will proceed as usual through March 2014, with backlist titles to be reissued under a Random House UK-based imprint. The company’s Edinburgh offices will close on […]
People, Etc.
At HMH Children’s, Mary Wilcox has been promoted to the newly-created position of vp, editor in chief. In addition, Adah Nuchi has been promoted to associate editor. At McIntosh & Otis. Shira Hoffman has been promoted to director of subsidiary rights, representing the agency’s extensive backlist of adult titles as well as for Louisiana State University Press and the University of Nebraska Press, while continuing to grow her own list. In addition, Christa Heschke has been promoted to agent within the children’s department, handling all foreign, domestic and subsidiary rights for children’s clients while actively building her own list. The […]