Gay Talese’s new book The Voyeur’s Motel has stoked controversy since a lengthy excerpt was published by the New Yorker in April, describing how a Colorado motel owner repeatedly spied on guests throughout the 1970s and 1980s. But the Washington Post recently uncovered property records that showed the subject of the book Gerald Foos did not actually own the motel for the bulk of the 1980s. Apparently Foos did not disclose this to Talese and he had not confirmed Foos’ ownership through his own research, led Talese to disavow the book, scheduled for publication by Grove Atlantic on July 12. “I should not have believed […]
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David Lamb has joined Hachette Books as assistant editor. Previously he was an editorial assistant at Scribner. Damon Reiss has been promoted to head of custom sales & strategy for HarperCollins Christian Publishing. Penguin Classics publisher Elda Rotor is profiled by CNN Philippines. Though much of the conversation revolves around publishing Flipino authors, Rotor does explain the utility of the list when public domain digital editions of classic books abound: “In the 10 years I’ve worked at Penguin Classics, it’s proven to be true that there is nothing that compares to a quality edition of a great work of literature. […]
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At Basic, Betsy DeJesu has been promoted to publicity director. At the Crown Publishing Group, Rebecca Welbourn has been promoted to publicist for Crown, Hogarth, Tim Duggan Books, and Broadway Books, while Hannah Frail moves up to associate publicist for those imprints. In addition, Owen Haney has been promoted to associate publicist/marketer, Crown Business and Crown Forum. JL Stermer has joined New Leaf Literary & Media as an agent, representing adult non-fiction, memoir, comedy/satire, fashion, health & wellness, self-help, and pop-culture, as well as some YA, commercial, and upmarket fiction. Previously she was at UTA. Nina Post has joined Curiosity […]
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Meghan Deans will join Ecco on June 13 as marketing director. She has been at Little, Brown, most recently as director of social media. At Clarkson Potter, Kim Tyner has been promoted to assistant production director. Harper Christian reports that longtime employee and vp of custom product development Joseph “Scott” Harvey, 52, died on Friday after a five-month battle to cancer. Harvey joined Thomas Nelson as a national accounts manager in May 2000. SVP of sales Tom Knight says, “Our friendship surpassed just being colleagues, as did most that ever had the opportunity to work with Scott. In addition to Scott’s larger-than-life personality his business acumen […]
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Berlin-based digital publisher Frisch & Co., which has published 13 books in translation, will become an imprint of UK-based Canelo as of June. Publishing director Michael Bhaskar says in the announcement, “We want to take these wonderful, original, eclectic, innovative voices to the wide English speaking audience they deserve.” Author of over 50 English-set historical romances, Jo Beverley died May 23 in Yorkshire, England. She was a five-time Rita Award winner, a member of the RWA Hall of Fame and RWA Honor Roll, and recipient of two Career Achievement Awards from Romantic Times. The Target Book Club pick for June is The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler.
Publisher of Month9Books, Swoon Romance, and Tantrum Books Pares Back List On Health Problems
The founder of the eponymous Georgia McBride Media Group — which publishes under Month9Books, Swoon Romance and Tantrum Books — emailed authors on Thursday to share information on her health issues and business problems. Recently diagnosed with a blood clot, following other stress-related health problems, McBride writes, “I am making changes which I believe will enable me to have a healthier work-life balance while also allowing me to continue to do what I love.” The fast-growing publisher will pull back somewhat, and McBride writes, “I am reverting rights to 40-50 authors across all imprints from those published to some yet to be published. […]