On the Read Smart podcast from the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-fiction, Barnes & Noble ceo James Daunt and Grove Atlantic ceo and publisher Morgan Entrekin discussed how the last 18 months affected their businesses, selling books across the political divide, and how young adults enjoy physical books. As always, Daunt was positive about how B&N has fared during the pandemic, noting that sales went up greatly after the store closures in the first months of lockdowns. Entrekin said that Grove Atlantic’s decision to not move most of their books out of the spring and summer in 2020 “cut both […]
How Publishing Works
Honoring Mehta and Frank, Writers’ Voices, and Readers
Knopf executive editor Jonathan Segal remembers his colleagues Sonny Mehta and Dan Frank for their “enthusiastic, expansive vision for American literary life” in the Atlantic. And he honors their legacy of focusing on readers to examine the larger moment in publishing: “Readers want the widest possible choice, and the choice is greatest, and the culture richest, when writers have the leeway to initiate a dialogue—an exchange of ideas—in which readers can freely participate.” As he notes, “Condemnation and dismissal lead nowhere, but criticism can be valuable.” More broadly: “Many legitimate and important concerns have surfaced on social media, but Twitter […]
This Week’s Discuss Guest: Agent and Attorney Jesseca Salky
Join agent and attorney Jesseca Salky to ask questions about legal issues that face authors and agents at noon on Wednesday, May 5 as our next weekly AMA guest on the PM forum Discuss. Feel free to post your questions for Jesseca in advance; the discussion will happen at this link. This is a straight forward, typed message board conversation. Discuss has no cameras, no sound, no zooming, no separate apps required. Use the “reply” button to type your questions or comments, and Jesseca will post back. While all of these conversations are scheduled and conducted live on our site, everything […]
S&S CEO Jonathan Karp Explains Decision Not to Distribute Mattingly Book
Simon & Schuster president and ceo Jonathan Karp wrote a letter to employees on Friday, explaining the publisher’s decision not to distribute Post Hill Press’ forthcoming book by Louisville police officer Jonathan Mattingly, one of the officers who shot Breonna Taylor. Karp writes that S&S first became aware of the title through news reports beginning around noon on Thursday, and had “no prior knowledge of the book and had not been informed by our distribution partner that it was in the works.” “By last night we had decided that we could not distribute this book,” he continues, “and after informing […]
New Editor PSA: Israel on Instagram Live
Recently-hired Simon & Schuster senior editor Yahdon Israel addressed prospective authors directly on Instagram Live Wednesday afternoon (recorded here), “Letting you know who I am and what I really do.” As he noted, his first wave of submissions “operated in a framework of how publishing has existed. In other words, you are pitching me imagining me to be someone that represents the establishment in a way that doesn’t align with who I really am.” Broadly, Israel advised, “I want to work with the writers who understand the communities that are going to be impacted because your work is in the […]
PRH Launches Voiceover Casting Platform to the Public
Penguin Random House Audio today launched a voiceover casting platform, Ahab, to make it easier for audio content creators to hire voice actors. Ahab was originally developed as an internal tool at PRH, first used in the US and then adopted by PRH audio teams internationally. Now its creators, svp of content production Dan Zitt and senior manager of digital production platforms Julie Wilson, are opening its use to the public. “Ahab has been an invaluable tool for our team, both to streamline the casting process and to expand our talent pool,” says Dan Zitt, co-creator of Ahab and SVP of content […]