Cheryl L. Davis has joined the Authors Guild as general counsel. She is a former partner at Menaker & Herrmann, where she focused on intellectual property issues and litigating copyright and trademark cases. Davis is also an award-winning playwright. She says in the announcement, “This job is really a dream come true for me. Not only does it open new horizons for me in the practice of intellectual property law, it gives me the opportunity to help my fellow authors and advocate for their rights.” At Putnam, Tara Singh Carlson has been promoted to executive editor. Gallery Books Group associate […]
Finance
Briefs: NYT Lists, Pearson’s Deal for Wall Street English, Waterstones Announces New Stores
People Eva Scalzo has joined Speilburg Literary Agency, representing romance and young adult fiction. Best Of Last Wednesday the NYTBR posted their list of 100 notable books for 2017. That means their top 10 list is due later this week. Former NYT book critic Michiko Kakutani doesn’t have a vote this year, but last week she indicated in a Tweet that three of her “favorite novels” from the year are Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, Exit West by Mohsin Hamid, and Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo. Corporate As expected, Pearson has reached a deal to sell their Wall Street English […]
IPO Set in Motion for Travel Retailer Hudson
Parent company Dufry AG formally filed a registration statement with the SEC related to a proposed IPO of Class A shares in their travel retail subsidiary Hudson Ltd. They expect the offering to occur some time in 2018, with Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and UBS Investment Bank jointly running the offer. Hudson’s units include Hudson Booksellers and Hudson News among their portfolio of 971 stores across 87 “transportation terminals and destinations.” In the preliminary prospectus, the company discloses that sales of “literature and publications” (e.g. books, newspapers and periodicals) were $192.5 million in 2016 ($187.2 million in 2015, and $182.1 million […]
IPO Launches For One of the World’s Most Valuable eBook Platforms
Benefiting from a red-hot market for IPOs in general in Hong Kong, the shares of Tencent spinoff China Literature nearly doubled in their first day of trading. The offering itself, which raised about $1.1 billion in proceeds for the company, was massively oversubscribed, reportedly with orders for more than 600 times the number of shares on offer. Priced at HK$55 a share, the stock is trading at HK$102.40, up 86 percent. The gives the ebook platform a market capitalization of roughly $11.9 billion — making it, by far, the highest-valued standalone publishing focused company in the world. (Pearson has a […]
Briefs: Collusion Book, HBG Buys Meadowbrook, and More
Forthcoming Foreign correspondent for the Guardian Luke Harding’s Collusion: How Russia Helped Trump Win the White House publishes in 10 countries on November 16, with Guardian Faber releasing in the UK and Vintage publishing in the US, as a $16.95 trade paperback. The book focuses the “the gripping inside story” of the dossier compiled by former MI6 officer Christopher Steele in 2016, but promises to add “exclusive new material and key sources from the intelligence community.” It is based on conversations with people close to Steele and draws on a wide range of sources in the US and UK. The book […]
People, Etc.: Cynthia Nixon to Host NBA Event
Actor Cynthia Nixon will host the National Book Awards ceremony on November 15. Jeff Tegge has joined Baker & Taylor Publisher Services as vice president of client services, reuniting with longtime colleague Mark Suchomel. Tegge was president of Legato Publishers Group and prior to that, vp of sales at IPG. Rachel Horowitz has joined The Bent Agency as a literary agent, specializing in children’s and commercial adult fiction. Most recently, she was children’s literary scout at Maria Campbell Associates. Jennifer Johnson-Blalock has left Liza Dawson Associates to launch Hyphen, a freelance editorial and coaching company. Jeff Shake has joined Rodale Books as senior designer, […]