This year every week in publishing could be considered eventful, but this week in particular had a special kind of symmetry, as the very publishing house Barry Eisler walked away from to publish on his own brought Amanda Hocking into the fold. Despite sources indicating otherwise a few days ago, St. Martin’s emerged the victor of the auction for Hocking’s new Watersong YA paranormal series, reportedly paying more than $2 million for World English rights (which, of course, includes digital rights, too.) “I’ve done as much with self-publishing as any person can do,” Hocking told the NYT Thursday. “People have […]
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Abrams will launch Appleseed Books, a new imprint geared towards babies, toddlers, and preschoolers, in Spring 2012. The imprint will publish 8-10 titles annually, mixing board books, novelty books, and young picture books as originals, reprints or branded series. The winners of the Bancroft Prize for History are Eric Foner‘s The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery; Sara Dubow‘s Ourselves Unborn and Christopher Tomlins‘ Freedom Bound. Each author will receive $10,000. Managing a Dental Practice: The Genghis Khan Way by Michael R. Young won the Diagram Prize for the year’s oddest book title. BookNet Canada will launch its interactive […]
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Chronicle Books has appointed Ginee Seo as director of children’s publishing, effective May 12. Previously she was VP and editorial director of Atheneum, where she had her own imprint. Mindy Im has joined the Book Industry Study Group as its marketing director, a newly created position, responsible for membership outreach, media relations, and overall organization branding, as well as general project management across a wide scope of BISG activities. Previously she was Associate Director of Marketing at Hachette Book Group. At Ruckus Media, Jason Root has been named Chief Content Officer and Jeff Zakim joins the company as its marketing […]
As the Publishing World Turns: Amanda Hocking Close to Seven-Figure Book Deal
On the same day Barry Eisler turned down half a million dollars from Minotaur Books to self-publish, news emerged publicly that Amanda Hocking appears to be doing the exact opposite. Yesterday afternoon the NYT finally caught wind of what many in the industry have known about for weeks now, which is that agent Steve Axelrod is shopping a new four-book series to publishers, attracting bids “of well over $1 million for world English rights,” according to two unnamed publishing executives who spoke with the paper, and that the auction may be complete by today. Sources in turn tell us that Penguin […]
Thriller Writer Barry Eisler Walks Away From Lucrative Print Deal to E-Publish Next John Rain Novel
Two months after thriller writer Barry Eisler moved houses to St. Martin’s Press crime imprint Minotaur Books for his next John Rain novel, The Detachment, he reveals in a lengthy online conversation with his friend and fellow writer Joe Konrath that the deal is off. Instead, Eisler will publish the book on his own around mid-June, far sooner than the Spring 2012 publication date scheduled by Minotaur. “I know it’ll seem crazy to a lot of people,” Eisler states, “but based on what’s happening in the industry, and based on the kind of experience writers…are having in self-publishing, I think […]
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Dara La Porte is leaving Politics and Prose, where she has managed the children’s and teen’s department for the past 11, to co-direct Literacy and Prose, a non-profit that brings authors and illustrators to schools. Transworld associate publicity director Laura Sherlock is leaving the company in order to “spend more time with her young family.” Her last day is June 8. Aflame Books, which devoted itself to publishing fiction in translation since, announced on its website last week that it ” has ceased trading and will no longer publish books,” after five years in business. They add, “we thank […]