The American Booksellers Association convened a virtual version of their annual meeting and town hall — usually held at Book Expo — on Thursday afternoon. One traditional element was missing however, the updated statistics on the number of ABA members. Board president Jamie Fiocco said in her report, “We were in the middle of renewals when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, so with dues suspended, we do not have membership numbers right now.” Fiocco had opened the meeting by reading a statement from the board: “I’d like to say that we are saddened and horrified by our country’s violence towards people […]
Diversity
More Pushback: Tattered Cover Apologizes For Position of Proud Non-Engagement
Denver bookstore The Tattered Cover drew considerable criticism online from authors and booksellers after it had posted a statement on June 6.While declaring, “We agree with, embrace, and believe that black lives matter,” the owners said, but their higher value was a “nearly 50-year policy of not engaging in public debate. Our value to the community is to provide a place where access to ideas, and the free exchange of ideas, can happen in an uninhibited way. It’s not for us to determine which ideas in the pages on our shelves are valid and which are not.” They said taking stands […]
Follow-Ups: On Jemisin’s Advances, HBG’s Expanded Goals, and More
After N.K. Jemisin surprised people with her modest book advances as a part of the #PublishingPaidMe conversation — $40K for each book of Inheritance trilogy; $25K for each book of the Dreamblood trilogy; $25K for each book of the Broken Earth trilogy — we queried her publisher, Tim Holman, vp and publisher at Orbit. He said that they “wholeheartedly support the right of black writers to demand equality in the compensation for their work” and also said that the contract negotiations were “conducted in good faith and based on the circumstances at the time.” He went on, “The commercial – […]
Publishing Pushes Back: A Day of Action Protests Industry Racism, A Hashtag Reveals Low Advances for Black Authors, and More
Over the weekend, close to 1,500 people from across publishing houses, literary agencies and more added their names to a Statement of Solidarity from Workers Across Publishing, which had been posted as a public google document. Addressed to the ceos of the five largest trade publishers, a little over half of the signatories work for those companies. The statement committed to today as “a day of action in solidarity with the global uprisings in response to the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, and the many, many others in the long history of Black people murdered […]
In American Dirt Book Club Episodes, Oprah Puts “Herself on Trial”
That’s the assessment of AP reporter Hillel Italie, who attended the taping of the two-part filming of Oprah’s Book Club discussion of AMERICAN DIRT and the controversy around the book. The shows are available for streaming from Apple TV+ on Friday, March 6. “She turned the forum into a debate about the marginalization of Latino voices, the lack of diversity in publishing and the question of who is best suited to tell a given story.” The AP spoke to Winfrey after the taping and she said, “This has taken up a lot of my energy, a lot of her (Cummins’) […]
People, Etc.
Elizabeth Mendez Berry has joined One World as vice president and executive editor. She was previously with the Nathan Cummings Foundation, where she was the director of their arts and media portfolio. Gabriella Doob has been promoted to editor at Ecco. Lauren Diethelm has joined Random House Children’s as production associate. She was previously production assistant at professional sports publications. Bebe Barrow has joined Chronicle Books as sales operations coordinator. Lizz Skelly will join Bonnier Books UK as head of publicity for children’s books on February 17 (she is currently at PRH UK), and Emma Quick joins the company today […]