Publisher of Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Shaffer’s just-released OPERATION DARK HEART Thomas Dunne Books has addressed the reports that began with the Department of Defense asking for changes in the book and have led recently to rumors of a Pentagon-sponsored burning of the first printing. “The true facts are that the government bought the first printing in its entirety and we destroyed and recycled those copies at their request,” Dunne writes. The changes made to the manuscript “were made at the request of the author,” Dunne says, after meeting with government officials to hear their concerns. He adds, “The Department of […]
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The Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association has hired Deborah Leonard as their new executive director, taking over from Jim Dana, who is retiring (and plans to work for the Peace Corps in Lesotho). Leonard was most recently a sales manager at Cengage Learning, and started her publishing career as a bookseller in Nashville, TN for ZIbart’s. Penguin UK digital publisher Jeremy Ettinghausen is leaving, to become a creative director at the advertising agency BBH. This year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade will include a Diary of a Wimpy Kid balloon. Copyright Clearance Center has expanded its European presence and opened a […]
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Colleen Martin has joined the Johnson Literary Agency as rights manager. Nielsen has launched BookScan in India, estimating that they are covering “over 50 percent of organized book sales” there to start. It’s the tenth territory in which they operate a book sales tracking service, joining the US, UK, Australia, Ireland, South Africa, New Zealand, Italy, Spain and Denmark. Ingram Publisher Services announced that they will distribute for Zondervan, serving their field sales, gift and special market accounts starting November 1.
Scholastic Confirms Kids Like Devices–Maybe More than Reading
Scholastic hired Harrison Group to conduct their 2010 survey this spring on reading habits of kids ages 6 through 17. As you would expect, the older kids get, the more they spend leisure time online and with their cell phones rather than reading books for pleasure. Kids love gadgets, and thus 57 percent “are interested in reading an ebook.” (But when queried about which type of device, typically only a third answered in the affirmative, so that 57 percent overall interest could be high.) A third “say they would read more books for fun if they had access to ebooks […]
Remembering Ralph Vicinanza
His agency has provided a formal obituary, which reads in part: “Ralph M. Vicinanza, literary agent, died suddenly at his home on Saturday, September 25, 2010. For over two decades, Vicinanza achieved worldwide recognition for his vision in opening the international marketplace for American authors, predominantly in the science fiction and fantasy genres. By discovering previously untapped markets for his clients’ work, Vicinanza carved out a large literary territory and dominated the field of foreign rights. “Vicinanza began his publishing career at the Scott Meredith Agency. It was there that three important things about the industry’s international scene became clear […]
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Margaret Raymo has elected to take the new position of senior executive editor, at Houghton Mifflin Children’s, a “purely editorial role” that will let her focus on discovering and working with authors and illustrators. Raymo says “I’m very happy to be able to put all my energy back into creating books.” As a result, Mary Wilcox has been promoted to vp, editorial director for Houghton Mifflin Children’s, while continuing as editorial director of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s. Abrams has hired Lindy Humphreys for the new position of director, digital assets and publishing technology, to “oversee our digital initiatives and help […]