Still the largest family of book clubs in the US, Bookspan has been quietly at work on ambitious new plans, PL has learned. A few months ago, with little fanfare, their “flagship” Book of the Month Club went dormant as a stand-alone club, integrating BOMC members in the companion club, The Literary Guild. (As best we can determine, the transition happened around August 1. The Wayback Machine last captured a BOMC home page in late July, and by August 7 the page was redirecting to the Literary Guild, which welcomed the old BOMC members. Also, the BOMC Facebook page went […]
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Tara Singh Carlson will formally move over to Putnam as senior editor. She will acquire hardcover titles for the Putnam list, while continuing to acquire trade paperback originals for Penguin, which will “predominantly” issue the paperbacks of her Putnam hardcovers as well. Joan Didion is the subject of a documentary film in progress, “We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live,” co-directed by her nephew Griffin Dunne and Susanne Rostock. After shooting more than 60 hours of footage — largely with Didion — Dunne and Rostock’s company Rava Films has launched a Kickstarter campaign seeking a minimum of $80,000 in funding […]
People: Green to ICM, and More
Following the dissolution of Jeff Berg’s start-up agency Resolution, veteran agent Rich Green has joined the media rights department of ICM, based in Los Angeles. Green was at CAA for 9 years before joining Resolution, and worked at UTA prior to that. He has represented authors including Jonathan Franzen, Matthew Quick, Chuck Palahniuk, Neal Stephenson and Deborah Harkness in their film deals. In other agency news, further to the NY Post report a week ago, private equity firm TPG is now said to be spending about $225 million to increase their share in CAA from 35 percent to a controlling 53 percent. […]
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Open Road announced a number of promotions in its marketing department. Allison Underwood has been promoted to director, digital marketing & analytics. Laura DeSilva has been promoted to senior marketing manager, while Amy Grillo moves up to senior merchandising manager. Jack Palmer has been promoted to marketing & analytics manager, while Grace Srinivasiah moves up to digital marketing associate. Peg O’Donnell has joined Lonely Planet as senior sales manager & children’s specialist. Previously she was a national account manager at Publishers Group West. Tim Close has joined David C. Cook as senior director of marketing. Previously he was ceo at […]
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St. Martin’s Press announced a number of promotions in its art department. Mike Storrings has been promoted to vp, creative director, while David Rotstein has been promoted to executive art director, with the additional title of creative art director for Minotaur. Finally, Olga Grlic has been promoted to executive art director, Griffin and SMP Mass Market Paperbacks. Chief Publishing Officer at David C. Cook Dan Rich will retire from the company in May 2015 after more than eight years with the company. Prior to joining David C. Cook Rich served as founding publisher of NavPress and WaterBrook Press and held […]
Grisham Apologizes For Interview Comments
In a written statement on Thursday issued through publisher Doubleday and posted on his website, author John Grisham apologized for remarks he made to the UK’s Telegraph in an interview: “Anyone who harms a child for profit or pleasure, or who in any way participates in child pornography — online or otherwise — should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. My comments made two days ago during an interview with the British newspaper The Telegraph were in no way intended to show sympathy for those convicted of sex crimes, especially the sexual molestation of children. I can […]