Picking his top ten works of fiction for the year, reviewer Michael Upchurch tells readers “this will be one of my last columns as Seattle Times book critic. Due to changes at the newspaper, I’m moving to a more general arts beat. I plan still to weigh in on books now and then, but it won’t be with the intensity of the past 10 years. (Make that 22, if you count my freelance efforts.)” At Tuttle Publishing, Christopher Johns has been promoted to sales and marketing director. The Music Sales Group has started using Midpoint Trade Books as their distributor, […]
Distribution
People, Award News, and More
In the marketing and publicity departments at Tor and Forge; Phyllis Azar has bee promoted to executive director of marketing; Patty Garcia has been promoted to director of publicity; Brian Vaughan moves up to the new position of director of publishing operations; Joseph Bendel takes the new position of manager of publishing operations; and Jennifer Kaufler has been promoted to marketing manager. In the UK, Pan Macmillan non-fiction publisher Richard Milner will leave at the end of next week to explore “new opportunities.” In awards, the American Library Association has announced nominees for their new YA debut award for books […]
Wiley In Meredith Publishing and Distribution Deal
Meredith’s steady pullback from the book publishing business now appears to be Wiley’s gain: the book publisher has just announced a five-year licensing agreement starting March 1, 2009 that gives Wiley the rights to publish books using all of Meredith’s brand names, including Better Homes and Gardens, as well as marks including Family Circle, American Patchwork and Quilting, and Diabetic Living. Wiley will also take over as the exclusive distributor of Meredith’s backlist of about 200 titles, in all channels worldwide. According to Meredith’s version of the press release, they will “continue to create book content” from their offices in […]
Distributor Tells Clients No Cash from Borders
Distributor IPG told clients in an e-mail (now cited on multiple websites) that Borders “tell us that they will not be paying us for two months due to anticipated excessive returns.” In the letter, clients were told that for new shipments to Borders, the distributor will guarantee only the actual printing cost of those books, for as long as “there are serious concerns about Borders viability.” IPG president Mark Suchomel tells us that “almost all of the clients” have instructed the company to continue shipping orders to Borders. He notes that “we’ve typically been very conservative and that’s been a […]
People and Distribution News
Marie Coolman will join Hyperion as executive director of publicity, taking over the position recently vacated by Beth Gebhard. She has been director of publicity and marketing for Hudson Street Press, and was west coast director of publicity at Random House after eight years with the company before going to the Penguin Group. Coolman says in the announcement: “Publishing needs a new approach, and that’s why I’m so excited to be joining the Hyperion team. As content providers, we need to meet readers where they go for recommendations – whether that is a friend, a media outlet, a bookseller, a […]
People and Other Announcements
Perhaps recognizing the confusion between their company’s two operating names, Newsstand is officially changing its name to the moniker better-known within our business, LibreDigital. They say the change is “to reflect its expanding set of product solutions to a broader set of publishers.” And they have hired Russell Reeder as president and ceo. He was president and coo of video-on-demand player NxTV. At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Amanda Cook has been promoted to executive editor. In addition to her own list of acquisitions, she edits the Best American Science and Nature Writing series. David Ouimet is returning to PGW as director […]