Kara Welsh will join Ballantine Bantam Dell as executive vice president, publisher on January 19, reporting to Gina Centrello. Previously Welsh was svp, publisher at the Berkley Publishing Group, after joining NAL as publisher in 2001. Reporting to Welsh are svp, associate publisher and editor-in-chief Jennifer Hershey, and svp, deputy publisher Kim Hovey. Centrello said in the announcement: “Kara and I both began our publishing careers at Pocket Books, where she rose to vice president, deputy publisher. I loved working with her. Each day, she demonstrated her can-do, solutions-centric publishing sensibility, her open, collaborative, calm work ethic, and her advocacy […]
Authors
Oprah Winfrey Will Launch New Imprint at Flatiron Books With Memoir THE LIFE YOU WANT
Flatiron Books will publish Oprah Winfrey’s forthcoming memoir THE LIFE YOU WANT in January 2017, the lead title in Winfrey’s as-yet-unnamed book imprint, expected to include several non-fiction titles per year chosen personally by Oprah. The book, which will be published simultaneously by Pan Macmillan in the UK, Australia, South Africa and India, promises to reveal “never-before told stories from her own experience and shines a light on how anyone can put their life on a new trajectory.” Winfrey said in the announcement: “All of my experiences, even the painful ones, have been there to teach me something about life. […]
People: Funke’s Start-Up Publisher to be Distributed by PGW, and More
Author Cornelia Funke‘s new independent publishing house Breathing Books has a sales and distribution agreement with PGW for the US and Canada. Her first title, The Golden Yarn, is now set for publication on December 1, 2015. (When Funke originally announced that she was parting ways with Little, Brown Children’s and Chicken House in the UK, she was aiming for a November release of the book.) She says in the announcement, “I’m thrilled that Breathing Books has found a distribution partner in PGW. As they know about my passion for working with booksellers and finding the best ways to share my books with my North American […]
Kindle Unlimited Payment Drops Below Half A Cent Per Page
Amazon announced their retroactive pool of money to compensate their exclusive, self-published authors for titles read through the Kindle Unlimited subscription program in October. The company allocated $12.4 million — up from $12 million in September — but pages read grew more than dollars allocated, so the payment per page dropped to $.004809. As KU authors quickly noted online, the payment per page has declined every month since Amazon switched to paying by pages read rather than books borrowed. The payments started at $.005779 per page for July. The total pool of money paid out has grown $900,000 since July […]
People
Peter Garabedian will retire from Macmillan at the end of the year, after joining the company in 2000 as COO. Dan Schwartz has been promoted to the new position of svp, finance and strategy, and “will drive the divisional strategy process, oversee the data science team, and have responsibility for the US finance organization.” Esther Kim is being promoted to the new position of director of business planning, and will work with Schwartz on topics related to analytics, business development and strategy. At HarperCollins, Shawn Nicholls has been promoted to associate publisher for Avon, Impulse, and Witness, as well as for mass market paperbacks, reporting to Lynn […]
People: McGuire Leaving Ballantine Bantam Dell; Kloske Appointed Riverhead President; and More
Ballantine Bantam Dell executive vice president and publisher Libby McGuire will leave the company at the end of the year in order to “dedicate her time to seeking and creating new professional opportunities for herself,” RH Publishing Group president and publisher Gina Centrello writes. She notes McGuire’s departure “with great respect for those accomplishments, and for her wish to reenvision her career.” McGuire has spent more than 15 years at what became Ballantine Bantam Dell; her direct reports will report to Gina Centrello for an interim period. “Libby and her world-class publishing team are admired industry-wide for the creativity and care […]