On Friday afternoon, Penguin issued to us a statement regarding the reported dozen separate lawsuits seeking to recover advances paid to authors the publishers says did not submit manuscripts: “Penguin invests in, nurtures and develops authors who write books that we publish and bring to readers. It devalues the hard work of the vast majority of our authors, and is unfair to our readers, if a few individuals can keep tens of thousands of dollars in advances without ever delivering anything to the publisher. For this reason, Penguin is asking these authors to repay the money they received for work […]
Authors
People, Etc.
Kelly Gallagher will join Ingram on October 8 as vp, content acquisitions, reporting to chief content officer Phil Ollila. Gallagher was most recently vp, publishing services at Bowker, and in his new role will lead Ingram’s selling and business development activities for print-on-demand and digital distribution products, based in New York. In addition, Pep Carrera has been named chief information officer at Ingram, reporting to coo Shawn Morris. Carrera was previously chief technology officer at RAPP. Gemma Cooper has joined The Bent Agency, representing children’s and young adult fiction, based on London but taking on clients from both the UK […]
People, Etc.
At ICM Partners, Kristyn Keene and Kari Stuart have both been promoted to agent. Keene joined the agency in 2006; Stuart has been with ICM for seven years. Alistair Burtenshaw, who left his positions at Reed Exhibitions earlier this month, will move up to chair of charity Booktrust (where he has served as deputy chair since 2008). The Smoking Gun highlights multiple lawsuits filed recently by Penguin to recover advances from authors who the publisher says never delivered their manuscripts. The suits look to recover advances and interest from: New Yorker staff writer Rebecca Mead $20,000, for a 2003 deal […]
The Rowling Rollout
Two weekend profiles of JK Rowling prepared the ground for Thursday’s release of THE CASUAL VACANCY, offering details on the book as well as the process that has guarded both the author and the book’s contents. Rowling told the Guardian, which ran their piece on Saturday, she dreamed up the idea for THE CASUAL VACANCY on a plane: “And I thought: local election! And I just knew. I had that totally physical response you get to an idea that you know will work. It’s a rush of adrenaline, it’s chemical. I had it with Harry Potter and I had it […]
People, Etc.
Editorial director of Rizzoli Paolo Zaninoni is leaving after almost ten years at the company. General manager of RCS trade books Massimo Turchetta will replace Zainoni on an interim basis. In addtion, Federica Magro has been named manager of Bur and Vintage paperbacks. Previously she was an editor at Mondadori. At Simon & Schuster Children’s, Liesa Abrams has been promoted to executive editor and moves from Aladdin to Simon Pulse, though she will continue to edit Aladdin’s Dork Diaries, Unwanteds and Beyonders. In addition, Annette Pollert moves up to editor, while Karen Nagel has been promoted to executive editor at […]
Mantel, Self Tipped As Favorites on Booker Shortlist
The Booker Prize shortlist was announced Tuesday, with Hilary Mantel’s BRING UP THE BODIES and Will Self’s UMBRELLA quickly tipped as early favorites to win the award. Every year we think to ourselves, this is the last time you’ll see books vying for or winning a major international award that aren’t instantly available globally, at least in digital form… Half of the shortlist comprises small press titles with varying availability in the US; we did our best to clarify status as much as we could before today’s publication. Deborah Levy’s SWIMMING FOR HOME, for example, will be published imminently as […]