Melissa DeCarlo’s novel The Art of Crash Landing is the No. 1 pick for the September Library Reads list. The list also includes Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff and Girl Waits With Gun by Amy Stewart, excerpts of which you can start reading right now in our Buzz Books 2015: Fall/Winterebook. The rest of the list features: Make Me, by Lee Child House of Thieves, by Charles Belfoure Did You Ever Have A Family, by Bill Clegg The Gates of Evangeline, by Hester Young Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things, by Jenny Lawson This Is Your Life, […]
People
Maya Ziv will join Dutton as executive editor on September 8. Previously she was a senior editor at HarperCollins. Judy Heiblum is leaving Sterling Lord Literistic after eight years with the agency. She will be taking on freelance editorial and consulting work and may be reached at jheiblum@gmail.com. At Public Affairs, Maria Goldverg has been promoted to assistant editor. At Maria Campbell Associates, Rachel Horowitz has been appointed senior scout for US children’s publishing. Also joining the company as senior scout is Annabelle Saks, working with Warner Bros Feature, WBTV, New Line, and Horizon. In the UK, Luke Speed has […]
Quarto Flattens In Quiet Half of Year
Quarto Group reported results for the first half of 2015, with sales increasing slightly (up 1 percent, or $0.6 million) to $66.2 million. Adjusted operating profit fell to $200,000, from $600,000 the prior year, “reflecting an expected shift in seasonality” — and Quarto records almost two-thirds of their sales in the second half of the year — with an operating loss this time around, and a loss before tax of $1.9 million. CEO Marcus Leaver said in the release he was “pleased that we have continued to make good progress in the first half of 2015. This is a solid set […]
Briefs: Pearson Sells The Economist, Too; GIRL ON THE TRAIN US Sales Reach 3 Million; and More
Following the recent sale of the Financial Times to Nikkei, Pearson has now sold its 50 percent stake in The Economist Group as well, for £469 million (or $731 million). Three-fifths of their stake (or a 30 percent share in the Economist) goes to Exor, the holding company for minority shareholder Agnelli, while the remaining portion (a 20 percent share) has been bought back by the Economist Group itself, funded by the sale of their headquarters, the Economist Complex, which has been the editorial team’s home for more than five decades. Pearson noted the “proposed changes will be put to a shareholder vote next month […]
Sargent Named EVP of Holtzbrinck Publishing Group
The Holtzbrinck Publishing Group formally announced the new management structure for its major operating business, following the formation and restructuring of Springer Nature (in which Holtzbrinck has a controlling 53 percent share). John Sargent has been appointed executive vice president of the parent company Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, continuing to manage the global trade publishing business and also overseeing the US higher education unit. (This was “soft announced” in April with the hiring of Ken Michaels to run Macmillan Higher Education and Macmillan New Ventures, reporting to Sargent.) Managing director of Holtzbrinck Digital Markus Schunk will take over responsibility for the digital business units, as head […]
People, Etc.
Jennifer Ung has joined Simon Pulse as associate editor. Previously she was an assistant editor at Scholastic. Kristen Reach has joined the Kenyon Review as associate editor. Previously she was an editor at Melville House. Bankruptcy Filing Filmed Entertainment Inc. — the parent of DVD direct-seller Columbia House — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday, citing $2 million in assets and $62 million in liabilities. The unit was part of Bertelsmann’s once-mighty Direct Group, then part of Direct Brands — purchased, along with the Bertelsmann’s North American book club group Bookspan, by Najafi Companies, which transferred the units to the mysterious […]