Hachette Australia ceo and chairman of Hachette New Zealand Matt Richell, 40, was killed in a surfing accident in Sydney earlier Wednesday, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. In a statement Hachette UK ceo Tim Hely Hutchinson said: “With great sorrow, and in shock, we have to announce the death of our beloved friend and colleague. Our thoughts and most heartfelt condolences are with Matt’s wife Hannah, his family, his colleagues and many friends in publishing and more widely.” Crown announced a number of recent promotions in the editorial department. Kevin Doughten has been promoted to senior editor for both the […]
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Amazon Picks Lepucki For July But Still Isn’t Selling It Yet
Amazon’s “best books of the month” list for July once again selects a forthcoming Hachette Book Group title that they are not willing to sell on a pre-order basis — in this case, Edan Lepucki’s CALIFORNIA, the title that Stephen Colbert urged his fans to pre-order from independent stores as part of his “ongoing war with Amazon.” (Little, Brown will publish on July 8.) The Spotlight title for the month is War of the Whales: A True Story, by Joshua Horwitz, and the featured debut is Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng. The other highlighted titles are: High as the […]
People, Etc.
Longtime vp, director of publicity at Penguin Maureen Donnelly, 59, died Monday at Overlook Medical Center in Summit, NJ of breast cancer. Before joining Penguin, Donnelly worked at Simon & Schuster and New American Library in a publishing career that spanned 40 years. A wake will be held in Roselle, NJ on Wednesday, with a funeral to follow the following day. Condolences can be offered here. Penguin Random House announced a number of appointments in the recently-united special markets department. Pam Roman is vp, director, specialty retail & wholesale sales and business development; Tammy Cabot is director, national accounts, specialty sales; Mary Margaret Callahan is director, in-house […]
People, Awards, Etc.
Barbara Kline Pope has been appointed director of the Association of American University Presses, succeeding Philip Cercone. Pope is director of the National Academies Press and will serve a one-year term as AAUP director. Costco’s July Pennie’s Pick is THE GIVER by Lois Lowry. Donna Tartt’s THE GOLDFINCH and Doris Kearns Goodwin’s THE BULLY PULPIT won the Carnegie Medals for fiction and nonfiction, respectively. Start Publishing is in the process of acquiring Whiskey Creek Press, as covered in two posts at Writer Beware. Poet and novelist Dermot Healy, 66, died over the weekend in County Sligo, Ireland. He was the author […]
People
New York’s Book Culture bookstores have reportedly fired 5 of their 30 employees following a vote to unionize earlier this week, the Gothamist reports. The story quotes emails from owner Chris Doeblin they obtained: “It was indicated to me . . . that two people in our mangament [sic] group voted in the union and effectively undermined the interests of the store. The store always being in opposition to the Union. Unfortunately there is no other recourse but to remove these people from our employ effective immediately.” The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union indicates it “has filed an Unfair Labor Practice […]
People, Etc.
At Penguin Random House in the US, Tom Cox has been promoted to vp, adult mass merchandise and distributor sales, the company’s newly formed cross-company division, reporting to Jaci Updike. In addition, Penguin vp, director of distributor sales Ken Kaye will retire at the end of 2014 after more than 45 years in the industry. International sales director Simon Littlewood is leaving Random House UK, where he has worked since 1997, by “mutual agreement.” Deputy ceo of Penguin Random House UK said Ian Hudson said, “Sadly, after much discussion we have been unable to find a mutually suitable role for Simon within Penguin […]