Prominent UK literary agent Deborah Rogers died yesterday, of a suspected heart attack, the Bookseller reports. Rogers, Coleridge and White confirmed the death of its chairman — who was presented with a lifetime achievement award just weeks ago at the London Book Fair. One of her authors, Kazuo Ishiguro, commented: “I’m groping for consolations in the face of this loss, but one of them is that she departed absolutely at the top of her game, knowing no decline. In the last few months, she was sharper, wiser, more energetic than at any time in the 34 years I’ve known her.” Brittney Ross […]
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Corporate: Little Brown UK Buys Constable & Robinson; Simon & Schuster Launches Business Book Site
Little Brown UK has purchased Constable & Robinson, which will continue to operate as its own entity under managing director Pete Duncan, who will report to David Shelley. Nova Jayne Robinson indicates to the Bookseller that the conversations began some time last year, before the death of previous chairman Nick Robinson in September. “Nick and I shared the view that we could not imagine a better home.” C&R had been a member of the UK’s Independent Alliance, and they have been the UK distributor for Skyhorse as well as New Harbinger and New Holland. Simon & Schuster has launched 250 Words, […]
Briefs: On Aiken, Black, and More
The Authors Guild announced that longtime executive director Paul Aiken, 54, was diagnosed with early-stage ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Aiken is currently in remission of symptoms due to steroid therapy, and promises to start posting his medical records for those who are interested in this treatment regimen. “He admits he has no way of knowing whether his remission will continue or whether he has some odd strain of ALS, so his treatment might not apply to others. He’s hoping to use the blog to help find out.” Authors Guild president Scott Turow says,”It’s business as usual at the Authors Guild. […]
eNews: Google Play in 9 More Countries; BookVibe’s Tweet-Based Recommendations; And More
Google Play has expanded into nine more European countries, including Denmark, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, and Sweden, bringing the total to 26. The NYT’s Bits Blog writes up its impressions of BookVibe, a book recommendation service created by fledgling startup Parakweet that “basically analyzes the tweets of accounts that you follow on Twitter and compiles a list of book recommendations based on which titles those people are talking about.” (BookVibe emerged out of BEA’s Publishing Hackathon earlier this summer.) Parakweet recently raised $2 million in seed funding for this and other services (including TrendFinder, for movie […]
Corporate: Penguin Tries Book Discovery With “First to Read”; Quercus Moves Sales In-House; And More
Penguin is launching a new book discovery tool, First To Read, that will offer “widely anticipated” excerpts of forthcoming Penguin titles as Hotshot by Julie Garwood, The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert, (also available on our own Fall/Winter Buzz Books 2013 sampler), The Fiery Heart by Richelle Mead, Sister Mother Husband Dog by Delia Ephron, The Childhod of Jesus by J. M. Coetzee, Dark Lycan by Christine Feehan, and many more. Those who sign up for First To Read through their Facebook accounts will be able to request digital galleys of available titles, and can also take part […]
eNews: Harper’s Hackathon Twist With BookSmash Challenge
A week after the Perseus-produced Hackathon that concluded at BEA, HarperCollins is launching its own version with BookSmash Challenge, a contest running from today through September 5 that asks developers developers “to create new digital products that ‘break the binding’ and re-imagine the book.” Developers will have access to works by more than a dozen authors, including Eloisa James, Julia Quinn, and C.S. Lewis, from which they can build new products and software from access to the full API for those titles. HarperCollins is working with software competition platform ChallengePost on the contest, and a total of $25,000 in cash […]