Predicting (or speculating on) who will win tonight’s National Book Awards is harder than usual, as the awards themselves are headed towards a process that will have broader resonance with readers. In past years, particularly for fiction, commercial success was often a deficit more than an advantage, but that may no longer apply. Among the fiction nominees, Nielsen Bookscan print sales data confirms Junot Diaz’s book as the most successful title in the marketplace, though a win for Diaz would make him the first person to win for a book of stories since Andrea Barrett’s 1996 award for Ship Fever and […]
Awards
People, Awards, Etc.
At Abrams, publisher Steve Tager takes on the new role of chief marketing and business development officer, focused on driving new business initiatives, including exploiting company’s digital assets. The marketing and publicity departments will also report to him. Deborah Aaronson takes over as vp, publisher for the adult trade group. She has been with the company since 2000. Elisa Urbanelli returns to the company as associate publisher for the adult group, also acquiring in categories including art and museum publications. She was previously a managing editor for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and most recently was a freelance […]
World Book Night Picks; Ferrari’s Wins Top French Prize
World Book Night has announced the 30 titles they will give away in the US and the 20 titles they will give away in the UK next April 23. The honorary national chairs in the US are authors Ann Patchett and James Patterson. US executive director Carl Lennertz notes in the announcement: “This isn’t a best-books-of-all-time list; these are contemporary or classic books that appeal to a wide range of new readers. We looked for diversity and variety in all things: subject matter, age level, gender, as well as ethnic and geographic considerations. Last year’s givers also got to nominate books…. And we thank […]
Awards: Coll Wins FT/Goldman Sachs Business Book Award; PW Best Books of the Year
Steve Coll has won the FT/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award for PRIVATE EMPIRE: Exxon Mobil and American Power (Penguin Press). Publishers Weekly announced their picks for the 100 best books adult books (and 40 top children’s books) of 2012. Here is their top 10 list: Building Stories, by Chris Ware (Pantheon) Bring Up the Bodies, by Hilary Mantel (Holt) The Round House, by Louise Erdrich (Harper) Happiness Is a Chemical in the Brain, by Lucia Perillo (Norton) The Devil in Silver, by Victor LaValle (Spiegel & Grau) Detroit City Is the Place to Be: The Afterlife of an […]
People, Etc.
Random House‘s Maryland distribution center, which shut down for 30 hours Monday night because of the mega-storm, was back in full operation as of Tuesday evening. The company is authorizing weekend overtime for its fulfillment staff to attend to any outstanding back orders. Ingram also experienced a brief interruption in services due to power outages, but told Shelf Awareness its distribution center in Chambersburg, PA and print-on-demand center in Allentown, PA “are up and running on schedule,” and it is “working closely with carriers” to get service restored to areas currently made inaccessible by the storm. Most bookstores in the […]
People, Etc.
Profile Books has bought Birmingham-based publisher Tindal Street Press, which will become an imprint at the publishing house as of November 1, overseen by Serpent’s Tail publisher Hannah Westland. Tindal Street Press Director Alan Mahar said in a statement: “We’re proud of what we’ve achieved during Tindal Street Press’s fourteen years of independent publishing in Birmingham. We found new English writers and published them with conviction and flair, earning prize-listings for the Man Booker, Orange and Commonwealth Writers’ Prizes, a British Book Award and two Costa Prize winners.” Profile Books MD Andrew Franklin added: “It’s always sad to see the […]