John Sargent, ceo of Macmillan — the parent company of Henry Holt, the publisher of Michael Wolff’s FIRE AND FURY — sent the following letter to the company’s employees on Monday morning, provided to Publishers Lunch: To: All Macmillan Employees From: John Sargent Last Thursday, shortly after 7:00 a.m., we received a demand from the President of the United States to “immediately cease and desist from any further publication, release or dissemination” of Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury. On Thursday afternoon we responded with a short statement saying that we would publish the book, and we moved the pub date forward to the next day. […]
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Penguin Random House announced a number of recent promotions in the sales department. Julie Black has promoted to senior vice president, sales strategic planning, while Tom Cox moves up to svp, mass merchandise & sistributor sales. In addition, Kim Shannon is promoted to svp, retail sales, and Jeff Weber moves up to svp, online & digital sales. Isabelle Bleecker and Jennifer Thompson are launching Nordlyset Literary Agency (which means The Northern Lights in Norwegian), a new agency offering full rights services for independent publishers and agencies, as well as author representation worldwide. Previously they worked together for fifteen years handling […]
People, Etc.: Jordan and Eakin Join the NYTBR, and More
The New York Times Book Review announced personnel changes, with Greg Cowles moving up to senior editor for the Books desk. Previously he was a preview editor for fiction and poetry. Two new hires will replace Cowles and Jennifer Szalai, who was recently named nonfiction book critic. Tina Jordan, formerly the books editor for Entertainment Weekly, will become a fiction preview editor and Inside the List bestseller columnist. She will “work on literary fiction, as well as science fiction and fantasy, horror, thrillers and romance coverage.” Emily Eakin has joined as preview editor, covering fiction and nonfiction reviews and editing essays for the Book Review. She previously […]
People, Etc.: Fred Bass Dies at 89, and More
Longtime owner of The Strand bookstore Fred Bass, 89, died on Wednesday at home in Manhattan of congestive heart failure. He started working at the store, founded by his father, when he was 13, and just retired last November. During that time, he oversaw the store’s significant growth from its original home on Fourth Street with 70,000 volumes to “the largest used-book store in the world” on Broadway — where he bought the store’s building for $8.2 million in 1997 — with millions of volumes and a storage warehouse in Brooklyn. The NYT quotes a remark Bass made to New York […]
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Natalie Grazian has joined Martin Literary & Media Management as associate literary manager. Previously she was a sales representative for Norton. At Putnam, Carolyn Darr and Madeline Schmitz have each been promoted to associate publicist. The LA Times names Kima Jones as a 2018 “literary breakthrough.” She is the founder of Jack Jones Literary Arts, an LA-based book publicity firm that focuses on representing women of color. “With her discerning eye for literature, keen awareness of what makes a successful book in the digital age and drive to empower writers who have been marginalized in publishing, Jones is an important new […]
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Sue Grafton, 77, author of the Kinsey Millhone series, died of cancer at her home in Santa Barbara on December 28. The alphabetical series began with A is for Alibi in 1982 and continued through her last book, Y Is for Yesterday, published in August 2016. She had not yet begun writing the final book of the series, which was to be titled Z Is for Zero and published August 2019. Her daughter Jamie Clark wrote in a message on Grafton’s Facebook page, “She was adamant that her books would never be turned into movies or TV shows, and in that same vein, she would […]