Leading literary agency for Christian and inspirational books Alive Communications has announced a separate “sister” epublishing enterprise, Bondfire Books. In the vein of Diversion Books (Scott Waxman), Bedford Square Books (Ed Victor), Paperless Publishing (Objective Entertainment), and Rosetta Books (Arthur Klebanoff), Bondfire is a standalone epublishing company. Following the model of other epublishing start-ups, founder Rick Christian says in the announcement they are paying “a 50 percent net royalty” and “five-year renewable terms.” (Other formal enterprises involving literary agencies include Pan Macmillan’s Bello in the UK, a revival line which launched in partnership with Curtis Brown UK, and the back-in-print […]
Agency News
Tech Investor Takes Minority Stake In William Morris Endeavor
Tech-focused private equity firm Silver Lake has made an investment in William Morris Endeavor and taken what is reported as a 31 percent stake in the agency. While the top management of WME remains unchanged, Silver Lake managing partner Egon Durban will join the executive committee of the agency, and will help to form a new technology advisory council. WME co-ceos Ari Emmanuel and Patrick Whitesell said in a joint statement: “While we have already taken significant strategic steps to transition our business to the new digital media landscape, we are excited about the financial strength and technology expertise Silver […]
People, Etc.
Chantal Restivo- Alessi has joined HarperCollins as chief digital officer, reporting to Brian Murray, and filling the position vacated by Charlie Redmayne when he joined Pottermore. She will also sit on the company’s executive committee. In her new role, Restivo-Alessi, most recently head of media corporate finance at ING Bank in London, will be responsible for leading the overall global digital strategy for the company, manage the commercial relationships with existing and new digital partners, and grow the digital revenues worldwide, working closely with all the divisions of the company worldwide. Leslie Hulse, svp digital business development, will report to […]
Digital News: More Languages for Potter; Harris Turns Packager; and More
As promised, Pottermore has placed on sale French, Italian, Spanish and German editions of the Harry Potter ebooks. Former book-to-film agent Nick Harris, who left ICM recently, is starting a new company with funding from his brother-in-law Jason Traub. In the vein of Alloy Entertainment and Full Fathom Five, The Story Foundation will create books in the packager model–saying they will split proceeds 50/50 “most of the time” with authors–and aims to develop those books as film/TV projects and for “other multi-platform opportunities.” Harris tells Deadline he is already worked on five projects, based on his own ideas. “After parting […]
People, Etc.
Patrick Nolan has been promoted to vp, editor-in-chief and associate publisher at Penguin Books, reporting to Kathryn Court. He fills the position being vacated by Stephen Morrison when he joins Picador. Nolan has spent the past 12 years as director of trade paperback sales, and in his new role Nolan will be responsible for overseeing the editorial direction and shape of the Penguin Books list. “Patrick has been a big part of Penguin’s success over the last decade, and I very much look forward to working with him in his new role,” Court said in a statement. Ryan Chapman will […]
David Frum to Release A Novel, with Agency WME As His Publisher
The end of this month will see the release of political commentator (and contributor to Newsweek/Daily Beast and CNN) David Frum’s first novel, a timely political satire called PATRIOTS (which opens as America’s first black president has just lost re-election). It’s arguably the first original publication from literary agency William Morris Endeavor’s epublishing brand 212 Books. (The agency also helped facilitate client James Frey’s direct ebook release of James Frey’s The Final Testament of the Holy Bible.) The Huffington Post has serialization rights and will start posting chapters of the book beginning the week of April 23 (prior to the […]