At Crown Children’s, Emily Easton has been promoted to vp, publisher. Marissa DeCuir has been promoted to president and partner at JKS Communications. Kurt Hettler has joined Ingram Academic Services as director of academic services. Previously he spent the past 25 years at Oxford University Press, most recently as director, publisher services. In addition, Peter Antone has joined Ingram as director of marketing, publisher services. Most recently he served as director of consumer marketing and sales at The Tennessean and Gannett-USA Today Network. Former Plume editorial director Rachel Bressler is now director of client relations for Ingram’s Perseus Distribution, reporting to […]
Authors
Briefs: Pedroza Collects In Fifty Shades Settlement, Amazon Boston, and More
Jennifer Pedroza will finally collect from her former Writers’ Coffee Shop partner Amanda Hayward, in a confidential settlement. Hayward is dropping her appeal of the Texas District Court judgment that gave Pedroza a $10.6 million award, along with $900,000 in interest and $1.7 million in attorney’s fees. The final payment does include at least $1.6 million from Random House that was being held by the court. Hayward had been ordered to put $10 million in escrow in 2015 though it was never clear whether she had the cash to fulfill the court’s order. Royalties from Random House were to be channeled to the escrow account to […]
Briefs: Forthcoming From George W. Bush & James Patterson; Amazon Opens La Jolla Store
Crown will publish the next book from former President George W. Bush on February 28 — the full-color PORTRAITS OF COURAGE: A Commander in Chief’s Tribute to America’s Warriors, presenting 66 portraits and a mural depicting service members and veterans, painted by President Bush. Crown will offer an over-sized edition signed by President Bush priced at $250, and he will read the text of the stories of the paintings’ subjects for the audio version. President Bush was represented by Robert Barnett at Williams & Connolly, and will donate his “net author proceeds” to the George W. Bush Presidential Center, with Crown acquiring world rights. The paintings […]
Briefs: Bissonnette to Forfeit All “No Easy Day” Royalties; Amazon May Plan Drive-Up Grocery Stores
Former Navy SEAL Matt Bissonnette formally settled the case brought against him by the Federal government for failing to obtain pre-publication review and clearance for his bestselling book No Easy Day. He will disgorge all royalties for the book, or about $6.6 million, and has apologized for his actions. (As early as November 2014 Bissonnette said he had negotiated terms with the government that would have him forfeit his royalties.) “I acknowledge my mistake and have paid a stiff price, both personally and financially, for that error,” Bissonnette said. “I accept responsibility for failing to submit the book for review and apologize […]
People, Etc.
Simon & Schuster Children’s announced a number of promotions and recent hires across various imprints. Sarah McCabe has been promoted to assistant editor, Simon Pulse. Nina Simoneaux has joined Aladdin as junior designer. Previously she was a design assistant at Random House Children’s, working on the Knopf, Crown, Delacorte, and Wendy Lamb imprints. Regina Flath has joined Random House Children’s as senior designer. Previously she was a senior designer at Simon & Schuster Children’s. In addition, Jaclyn Whalen has joined as designer. Previously she was a design associate at Vintage/Anchor. Annie Stone has joined BookBub as an account manager, where […]
Oprah Picks Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad
Oprah’s latest Book Club pick, her first in approximately 18 months, is Colson Whitehead’s new novel The Underground Railroad. Originally scheduled for release on September 13, Doubleday has pushed up publication and the book, emblazoned with the Oprah Book Club logo, is on sale today. (The most recent Oprah pick was Cynthia Bond’s Ruby, in February 2015.) In a short video, Oprah begins, “Oh, have I found a great book!” while describing why she chose The Underground Railroad. There is a special page devoted to the pick on Amazon, where Winfrey adds: “This book has kept me up at night, had my heart […]