Allison Devlin has been appointed sales director in client sales at Penguin Random House Publisher Services. Former literary manager at The Gotham Group Eddie Gamarra has been hired as vp studio business development for Nickelodeon. Legal A jury cleared Nicholas Sparks of all counts of defamation and violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, concluding a long-running suit filed by Saul Benjamin, former headmaster of the North Carolina school founded by Sparks and his wife. In the suit, Benjamin accused Sparks of defaming him by claiming to others that he was mentally and/or physically ill, and terminating him because of […]
Bookstores
Amazon Admits They Are Unable and/or Unwilling to Prevent Counterfeit and Infringing Books
Some days the news practically writes itself. On Monday the NYT clearly documented just how polluted the Amazon bookstore has become with fake, illegitimate and counterfeit editions of books by an obscure author like George Orwell. The full statement provided by an Amazon spokesperson in response unwittingly makes the case against the online seller. The diction is reminiscent of the company’s chief “complexifier” — “Today, there is no single source of truth for the copyright status of every book in every country that retailers could use to check copyright status” — but the arguments are more worthy of a child […]
People, Etc.
Malcolm Edwards, former Gollancz chair and consultant publisher at Orion who left Hachette UK in May after 43 years at the company, will join Welbeck Publishing in September to serve as publisher of André Deutsch. He will “focus on resurrecting and reviving the Deutsch fiction backlist, alongside developing a new front list strategy which will concentrate on publishing new titles in some of his key areas of expertise: crime, thriller, science fiction, fantasy and horror.” Executive director Mark Smith says in the announcement: “Malcolm’s appointment allows us to begin to reinvent, republish and resurrect titles from high-quality authors that André […]
People, Etc.
Wendi Gu has returned to Sanford J. Greenburger Associates as agent; she spent the last two years at Janklow & Nesbit as associate agent. Sarah Phair has joined SJGA as agent after 6 years at Trident Media Group, and Edward Maxwell has been promoted to agent. Jenny Stephens has been promoted to agent at Sterling Lord Literistic. Olivia Russo will join Penguin Children’s as senior director, publicity on September 3. She was formerly publicity director, Harper Children’s. Rebecca Brewer is no longer at Ace/Berkley, and can be reached at rebeccacbr@gmail.com and Brewereditorialservices.com. Phoebe Morgan will rejoin Harper UK as editorial […]
People, Etc.
At Flatiron, Bryn Clark has been promoted to editor and Sarah Murphy to executive editor. Agnes Ahlander Turner has been promoted to executive vice president at Maria B. Campbell Associates, and Beniamino Ambrosi and Johanna Gustavsson both been named vice president. In the UK, Noel Murphy will join Granta Books and Granta Magazine as commercial director starting September 23. He was previously sales and marketing director at Yale University Press. Imprints Orion will launch Dash, a digital fiction imprint, this fall, run by commissioning editor Victoria Oundjian. Bookselling April Newton (£8.37 an hour), Kimi Wright (£8.71 an hour), Stefan Pace […]
Welcoming Daunt to Barnes & Noble and The American Press
Both the WSJ and the NYT welcome new Barnes & Noble ceo James Daunt with profile pieces: The Journal’s article is shorter, but fact-based, while the Times’s piece is romantic and features various errors and misunderstandings. The WSJ has no trouble stating Waterstones’ fiscal 2018 results plainly: “An underlying profit of £16.32 million across its 278 shops,” on sales of £385.7 million — with both profit and sales down slightly from the prior year. The NYT relies on Daunt’s version, without checking the actual filings in Companies House: “The privately held Waterstones returned to profitability in 2015, Mr. Daunt said” […]