With the Frankfurt Book Fair underway, our annual analysis of actual dealmaking data stands in contrast to the standing fair daily stories hailing a few big deals made a few weeks ago. Our data shows overall dealmaking just below last year’s soft season, comprising the fewest pre-Frankfurt deals since 2012. (And that’s with an extra day counted in; since Frankfurt is late this year, we start counting the five-week selling season from Monday, September 12 rather than the Tuesday after Labor Day. In terms of where publishers are making their biggest investments, the momentum continues last year’s shift to nonfiction. Overall […]
Book Fairs
People, Etc.
Doug Jones has been promoted to the new position of svp, deputy publisher of the Harper group, reporting to Jonathan Burnham. In addition, he will serve as publisher of Harper Perennial and Harper Paperbacks. All marketing and publicity for the Harper imprints and lines will report to Jones, who has been svp, sales for HarperCollins. Senior vice president, associate publisher Kathy Schneider is leaving the company. Sarah Bedingfield has joined Levine Greenberg Rostan as an associate agent, working with Stephanie Rostan and building a clientele of literary and upmarket commercial fiction authors. She was previously an assistant editor at Crown and Hogarth. Claire Kelley has joined Roost […]
Moving On
Earlier this week, FW Media announced that Ted Hill will oversee programming for a rebooted, more finely- and skills-focused DBW, as our conference partner Mike Shatzkin noted in a long blog post on the end of the “big change” era in publishing that he will no longer program the event. Mike and I were always partners in programming, producing and promoting the event since it started in 2010 — with former FW ceo David Nussbaum providing the founding direction and spark — so to be clear, our association [e.g. Publishers Lunch, and Michael Cader] with the event has ended as well. […]
People, Etc.
Julie Will has been promoted to editorial director at Harper Wave. Allison Hunter will join Janklow & Nesbit as an agent on July 11. Previously she was an agent at the Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency. Erin Simpson has been promoted to senior agent at the Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau. Patti Hughes, vp, distribution publishing and special sales at Macmillan, died June 12 of complications from cancer. Hughes spent 27 years at Macmillan, over two separate tenures. “Patti was a wonderful colleague, mentor and friend,” Macmillan president, sales Allison Lazarus said in a statement. “She was a rare individual who could focus […]
Bookselling Briefs: Teen Fest, More BookCon, Amazon College and iBooks Extras
Barnes & Noble says that for their weekend teen book festival, June 10 through June 12, sporting the hip and happening name “B-Fest,” they have lined up “more than 1,800 author appearances at stores nationwide.” Chief merchandising officer Mary Amicucci says in the announcement, “This is not only the most author appearances in one weekend in the history of Barnes & Noble, it’s also a hugely important moment for authors and publishers. By rallying together in such a powerful way, we’re giving teens across the country the unique opportunity to meet and interact with their favorite authors at their local store, and […]
BEA Shrinks, As ABA Continues Growth
As Book Expo America heads to Chicago, with the show opening this Wednesday, the convention will be considerably smaller. Event director Brien McDonald confirms for the AP that the show will occupy almost twenty percent less floor space than last year, taking up just over 126,000 square feet at McCormick Place. (Last year China occupied approximately 25,000 square feet of space on its own, as the country was the featured guest.) The big New York-based publishers are sending fewer people this year to save on the expense of an out of town show, which will likely have an effect on attendance figures as well. […]