Bill Harris has joined BookEnds Literary Agency as director of digital content. Formerly a senior managing editor at Penguin, he has most recently been a freelance editorial and web development consultant. In addition, Beth Campbell has been promoted to literary assistant and rights coordinator. Skyhorse and Start Publishing have finalized their joint acquisition of Night Shade Books, an agreement reached “following a spirited and public debate” among authors, agents, fans, and publishers. According to a statement, Night Shade had net sales in 2012 of approximately $1.5 million. In Denmark, Lindhardt and Ringhof has acquired independent Danish literary house Per Kofod […]
Finance
China Signs Off; Penguin and Random House to Merge In July
China’s antitrust authority has “cleared the planned merger of Penguin Group and Random House without conditions,” the two publishers reported, and they “welcome the Beijing authorities’ decision as an important step toward the combination of their respective publishing companies.” This was the final international approval required for the deal to go through, so “subject to the integration planning, Bertelsmann and Pearson are confident about being able to close the transaction in July 2013.”
“Difficult Negotiations” Persist Between S&S and B&N, Limiting Author Events, Too
One controversy not evident on the BEA show floor but still very heated off the floor is the stand-off on terms between Barnes & Noble and Simon & Schuster that has resulted in reduced business between the publisher and the bookseller since the beginning of the year. (For some publishers, discussion of revamped terms with B&N began last summer, and we’re told there is renewed pressure from the booksellers on those who have not changed business terms.) It landed back on the radar when S&S author William Kent Krueger blogged that he was told to cancel two events scheduled for […]
People, Etc.
Sarah Harrison Smith has been named children’s editor at the New York Times Book Review. She was most recently on the paper’s metropolitan desk. Scholastic unveiled the new cover designed by Kazu Kubuishi for HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS, which will be published on August 27 (along with the other redesigned books in the series) at BEA Thursday morning. At the Audiobook Publishers Association’s Audie Awards ceremony last night at the New-York Historical Society, Graham Greene’s The End of the Affair (read by Colin Firth, Audible) was named named Audiobook of the Year and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (multi-voiced […]
People, Etc.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg officially has declared Tuesday as “G.P. Putnam’s Sons Day,” in recognition of the publisher’s 175th anniversary. Bloomberg said: “The story of G.P. Putnam’s Sons has it all – entrepreneurship, determination, romance, big dreams. It is a classic New York City story, and on this wonderful occasion, today, we join Putnam’s extended family and many readers across the world in looking ahead to the next exciting chapter.” Michael Foster, who bought control of the UK agency PFD and merged it with his MF Management in 2010 to form The Rights House, has sold his shares back […]
News Corp. Approves Separation; Aims for June 28
The board of News Corporation formally approved the division of the company’s assets into two publicly-traded companies. They expect the spinoff to occur in a month, on June 28. As previously described, HarperCollins will join the company’s newspapers, education unit and other division in the New News Corp. which will — upon completion of the deal — be named simply News Corporation. The other assets, focused on film, television and cable/broadcasting, will name itself 21st Century Fox. The New News Corp. has already been authorized to buyback up to $500 million worth of its own shares once it starts trading, […]