The Observer looks at why Graywolf decided to sell paperback rights to Salvatore Scibona’s National Book Award-nominated novel THE END to Riverhead (as reported on our Deals page last week). Director of publicity Mary Matze says, “We felt like if he doesn’t win, then Riverhead is probably going to be the best home for him and for this book in the long term, and if he does win, we still have a good deal worked out with Riverhead, though of course it would have been more beneficial for us to keep the paperback rights. Even in that case, a publisher […]
How Publishing Works
Cutbacks at Doubleday
The Doubleday Publishing Group has eliminated a total of 16 positions spread across all of the group’s lines, including Doubleday, Broadway, Nan A. Talese, Speigel and Grau, and Waterbrook Multnomah. Spokesman David Drake confirms that the “jobs were cut in our editorial, marketing, publicity, art and ad promo departments.” Drake says, “These job cuts followed a close review of all aspects of our publishing operations by the management of our publishing group, and, as painful as it is for everyone here to lose a number of well-respected colleagues, we believe the decision was necessary and in the interest of our […]
Kirshbaum On Publishing; Ulin on "Vapid Hype"
the Harper Studio blog asks former publisher/now agent Larry Kirshbaum what one thing he would change about the publishing business: “I’d like to see less titles published by the large publishers. The smaller publishers have financial and capacity restraints which tend to keep their lists within the realm of what they can successfully market. The larger publishers, having greater resources (and also larger infrastructures) seem to believe that the larger their lists, the more chances they’ll have for scoring big successes. “Unfortunately, even when you have multiple imprints, size no longer works in their favor. (Large publishers tend to have […]
Chuck Adams, Interviewed
Jofie Ferrari-Adler continues his Poets & Writers interview series with Chuck Adams, now enjoying “a third act” at Algonquin, where one of his first acquisitions was Sarah Gruen’s Water for Elephants. “The redemption story is only part of why I wanted to talk with Adams. I heard a rumor that he was a straight shooter, and I had a hunch that his experience at publishing houses both large and small, and his extensive background with commercial authors, would yield some unique insights that writers of all stripes might find useful. In our wide-ranging conversation, Adams spoke with rare candor about […]
The Sky Is Falling
It’s changing times in the book business for sure, but NY Magazine applies the cliched journalistic formula to make that into End Times. Random House’s new ceo may be more business-focused and energetic. Borders is in trouble. Books sold to stores are nonreturnable, and sometimes publishers have to pay display fees, the same way every other manufacturer deals with retailers. A prominent author left his old publisher after decades of support to get more money somewhere else after his sales flagged. The tooth fairy may be apocryphal. The timing of this achingly long list of moans and whines that proclaim […]
Push On to Publish Olympic Medallists
Britain’s surprising medal haul at the Beijing Olympics has prompted a flurry of interest in potential book projects, with agents sounding out publishers for deals for the likes of double-gold swimming champion Rebecca Adlington, medal-winning cyclist Victoria Pendleton and teenage diver Tom Daley. Giles Elliott, sports editor at Transworld, said that since Ben Ainslie’s gold medal win in sailing last Sunday, there have been agents trying to tout tie-in sports titles. “They have been going around trying to see what kind of interest there is,” he said. Tom Whiting, editorial director at Harper non-fiction, added: “There are a lot of […]