Simon & Schuster vp, director of subsidiary rights Marcella Berger will retire at the end of this year after more than 35 years with the company. In a statement jointly sent out by S&S publisher Jonathan Karp, Touchstone publisher Stacy Creamer and Threshold publisher Louise Burke, they commend Berger for her “stalwart presence” and for being “known and respected throughout the international publishing community for her knowledge, amiable calm, and depth of experience.” Among the books Berger worked on included every title by Bob Woodward, LIVING HISTORY by Hilary Clinton, THE DYLAN CHRONICLES by Bob Dylan, 35 suspense novels by […]
Agency News
eNews: The Knight Agency Launches Self-Publishing/Digital Publishing Initiative
On the heels of other recently announced self-publishing and digital publishing initiatives from Bookends, Dystel & Goderich and Anne McDermid Associates, The Knight Agency said on their blog that they will launch an “assisted self-publishing program” to help clients digitally publish backlist titles and select frontlist titles. They intend to charge their standard 15 percent commission for services including content editing, ISBN number assignment, cover design and consultation, and developing a marketing plan, and will “pay all upfront costs with the exception of copyediting.” The agency stresses on its blog that “we did not enter into this lightly, but felt […]
McDermid Agency Launches Separate Digital Publishing Consulting Service
Anne McDermid and Associates is launching dropCapLiterary, which will consult with authors to provide “advice and instruction on marketing, promoting and selling their work in the new digital age.” Run by technology host, journalist, and strategist Amber Mac and McDermid agent Chris Bucci, dropCapLiterary will operate independently of the literary agency, open to all authors, “regardless of representation,” charging fees for negotiated services. That menu of optional services includes: “building and enhancing an author’s online platform; developing an online marketing strategy tailored for each book; managing available ebook and enhanced ebook rights; determining marketing strategies for ebooks; and collaborating with […]
Hastings’ Book On Offer After Little, Brown Cancels
Michael Hastings’ book The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan, planned for publication in December from Little, Brown, is now in turnaround. Little, Brown spokesperson Nicole Dewey says that their “publication plans have been cancelled due to editorial differences.” Agent Andrew Wylie is said to be offering the book to others now. The NY Post writes that “an investigation by the Department of Defense [following Hastings’ Rolling Stone article on General Stanley McChrystal, “The Runaway General”] said it could not find people to corroborate some of Hastings’ details and cast some doubt on the […]
More eNews, Off the Beaten Path: Muhammed Ali Sues Kobo; An Author’s eFirst Serial; Chinese Authors Complain to Apple; and More
Muhammad Ali Enterprises has sued Kobo in a New York Federal Court, saying the company used the apparently-trademarked “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” phrase in an ereader ad without permission. Bloomberg Author Keith Devlin has self-published electronically a section that had been cut from his just-released book THE MAN OF NUMBERS, under the title Leonardo & Steve: The Young Genius Who Beat Apple to Market by 800 Years. Priced at $2.99, the self-published ebook was issued more or less simultaneously with the full title from Bloomsbury, packaged with the first chapter from the book itself. Agent Ted […]
Agencies for Sale–Or Not
For sole proprietors or small literary agencies, a founder’s passing or ill health creates a host of uncertainties with respect to a company’s future. Do they sell the business, hire new staff, or maintain the agency’s backlist interests on a passive basis? A handful of agencies have reckoned with these choices over the past six months in a variety of ways. As reported in May, three active members of Russell & Volkening left to start a new company, Salky Hannigan Getzler Agency, taking their clients with them. Part of the reason, multiple sources told us, was that the trio attempted […]