Abrams announced the previously undisclosed title of Jeff Kinney’s fifth Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, which publishes on November 9, and The Ugly Truth will get a first printing of 5 million copies. Abrams says 35 million copies of Wimpy Kid books are in print already in the US. Last fall’s DOG DAYS had an announced four-million-copy first printing and the publisher went back to press for another 500,000 right after the release, with an estimated first-week sale in excess of 750,000 units. Kinney says in the announcement, “To me, the fifth book is the linchpin of the series. […]
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Adam Friedstein has joined Anderson Literary Management as an agent primarily representing debut literary fiction, literary thrillers and suspense, young adult fiction, and narrative and serious nonfiction. He was previously at Trident Media Group.” At Perseus, vp, business operations Clare Peeters has had her role expanded to vp, corporate strategy and business development. She has “played a critical role in both the creation and the ongoing activities of our joint ventures with both The Daily Beast and The Weinstein Company,” as well as the expansion of Constellation.Ruth Esehak-Gillespie has joined Macmillan’s International Sales Division as sales and promotions coordinator, based […]
Profits Rise at Harlequin
Harlequin’s parent company Torstar reported second quarter sales of $124.1 million (CA), down $6.2 million, and operating profit of $20.4 million, up $700,000 from a year ago. Calling it “another strong performance at Harlequin,” they say that sales rose excluding the rise in the Canadian dollar. Looking forward, they expect a “relatively stable year” at Harlequin, “including the negative earnings impact of foreign exchange. The growth in the North America digital sales and the acquisition of the other half of the German joint venture in April 2010 will offset the expected decline from the Softbank contribution, lower North America Retail […]
Grand Central Associate Publisher Les Pockell Dies at 68 of Cancer
Grand Central associate publisher for the past decade Les Pockell, 68, died at home on Monday. Publisher Jamie Raab tells the AP “she liked to call him ‘The Professor’ because Pockell knew so much about so many subjects and would become visibly animated in discussion. ‘He was the smartest person we knew.'” His former boss Larry Kirshbaum “remembered Pockell as a thinking man who stood out at a relatively commercial publishing house. He was also regarded as a mentor with a great deal to teach and a willingness to let others take the credit.”AP
Susan Kamil Promoted to Publisher at Random House
Gina Centrello announced this morning the promotion of Random House editor-in-chief Susan Kamil to publisher of both the Random House and Dial Press imprints, reporting Centrello. Most editorial staff will report to Kamil, who will “continue to edit a select number of books a year”–except for Kate Medina, who continues to report directly to Centrello. In other adjustments, Tom Perry is relinquishing his responsibilities for the entire Random House publishing group to return to Little Random as deputy publisher, and he will serve as publisher of The Modern Library as well.Theresa Zoro moves up to svp, director of publicity for […]
Good, Evil and Jack-All
While the UK media is stuck in their cliched mode of writing about Andrew Wylie’s Jackalicious adventures–today’s Independent offers up three stories all amounting to little–some trade wag is having a lot of fun. Under the Twitter handle “EvilWylie” have come a string of zingers starting last Friday afternoon with “All your contracts are belong to me! muah ha ha ha ha.” New followers are rewarded with exclusive rights grants (“Evil Wylie has granted you exclusive rights to write like @margaretatwood writing like Stephen King”) there are numerous special offers: “Sizzling summer deals! Evil Wylie just posted e-book rights to […]