Pioneering feminist poet and essayist Adrienne Rich, 82, died Tuesday at her home in Santa Cruz of complications from long-term rheumatoid arthritis, her son Pablo Conrad told the LAT. Rich won a number of prestigious prizes for her poetry and prose throughout her career, including the Yale Young Poets prize, the National Book Award, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize and the Dorothea Tanning Award given by the Academy of American Poets. Uggie, the dog who co-starred in Oscar-winner The Artist, has signed with Alan Nevins at Renaissance Literary & Talent to represent his “autobiography,” currently titled “Uggie, My Story.” British […]
Random House Profit Increases as Bertelsmann Plans To Reshape Company In Next 5-10 Years
Bertelsmann released its full-year earnings statement for 2011, and for Random House the numbers correspond to the trend at other large houses: Revenue fell €79 million or 4.3 percent to €1.749 billion compared to last year, while EBIT rose 6.9 percent to €185 million, compared to €173 million the previous year. The company also recorded “record triple-digital-percentage” digital revenue growth and a “surging demand” for Random House ebooks helped by the “increasing availability of lower-priced e-reading devices and tablets” that offset declines in print sales. (2011 was also the year Random House switched to agency model pricing in the US.) […]
People
Rachel Ekstrom is joining the Irene Goodman Literary Agency as an agent, representing women’s fiction, YA, thrillers, mysteries, romance, and historical fiction. She was most recently publicity manager at St. Martin’s Press. At Tarcher/Penguin, Kevin Howell has been promoted to marketing manager, and Molly Brouillette moves up to senior publicist. At Chronicle Books, Deirdre Merrill has been promoted to Contracts Director. In the UK, Joe Pickering will join Random House imprints Jonathan Cape and The Bodley Head as publicity director on May 8. He was most recently publicity manager for Penguin and replaces Chloe Johnson-Hill, who is moving to a […]
Books of the BEA Buzz Panels
BEA organizers have announced selections for three “buzz” book panels for adult, young adult, and middle grade books for this year’s convention, with one panel each day starting on Monday, June 4. Here are the lists: Adult Buzz Shani Boianjiu, THE PEOPLE OF FOREVER ARE NOT AFRAID (Hogarth, September) John Brandon, A MILLION HEAVENS (McSweeney’s, July) Rachel Joyce, THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE OF HAROLD FRY (Random House, July) Vaddey Ratner, IN THE SHADOW OF THE BANYAN (Simon & Schuster, August) Susannah Calahan, BRAIN ON FIRE (Free Press, December) Antoine Wilson, PANORAMA CITY (HMH, September) YA Buzz Gennifer Albin, CREWEL (FSG Young […]
Harry Potter eBooks Finally For Sale, With Major Retailers – Including Amazon – Acting As Third Party Services Distributors
After many delays and unexpected hiccups, digital editions of JK Rowling’s entire Harry Potter series are available for sale from Pottermore. The first three books in the series are priced at $7.99 (£4.99 in the UK) and the final four books are $9.99 (or £6.99.) Digital audiobooks are also available, narrated by Stephen Fry (in the UK) and Jim Dale (in the US), priced at $29.99 (or £17.99) for the first three and £17.99 (or £32.99). The ebook editions are available in ePub format to load on a wide range of compatible devices, and so far Pottermore has partnered with […]
People, Etc.
The Crown Publishing Group announced a number of promotions. Rachel Klayman has been promoted to vp, executive editor for the Crown imprint, while Rachel Rokicki moves up to assistant publicity director, Crown and Hogarth. At Crown Archetype, Ellen Folan has been promoted to publicity manager and Caroline Sill moves up to publicist. At Chronicle Books, Alexis Watts has joined as marketing assistant. She was most recently an interim junior account executive at Colman Getty. Julie Otsuka has won the PEN/Faulkner Prize for THE BUDDHA IN THE ATTIC (Vintage). She will receive the prize at a ceremony to be held in […]