Following on Avon Impulse and Harper Teen Impulse in the US, Harper UK will launch a digital first women’s fiction and romance imprint in May. Harper Impulse, an imprint of their Harper Fiction division, aims “to find, publish and break new talent from debut authors, and import the hottest trends from the US.” Harper Fiction publishing director Kimberley Young will run the line (she was editorial director at Mills & Book for 12 years), joined by content developer Charlotte Ledger, who worked previously at Chawton House Library as well as Mills & Boon. They invite unrepresented submissions and are looking […]
International News
People, Etc.
Tad Floridis has joined Zola Books as director of international business development, with an initial mandate to take the company into the UK and British Commonwealth markets. Floridis was previously co-founder and associate publisher of Canongate’s US arm. “We are delighted that Tad will be laying the groundwork for our launch abroad,” Zola ceo Joe Regal said in the announcement. “His wealth of experience will help us target the best opportunities for development of content, identify possible strategic business partnerships, and build expert local teams in each of the markets we plan to enter in the coming months and years.” […]
People
Laney Katz Becker has joined Lippincott Massie McQuilkin as an agent. Previously she was at Markson Thoma. At Ten Speed Press, Kelly Snowden has been promoted to marketing and publicity manager. UK-based And Other Stories is established a New York presence, run by Sarah Russo of Sara Russo Public Relations as North American director of publicity. Beginning with the fall/winter 2013 list, their titles will be distributed here by Consortium. In the UK, Samantha Smith will join Scholastic on May 20 as publisher, fiction. She is currently editorial director at Little, Brown UK. In addition, Rachel Partridge will join the company […]
Reuters’ Sources Say Penguin Random House Merger to be Approved by EU
Two people have gone ahead and leaked that the European Commission will approve the Penguin Random House merger with no requirement of any concessions on or before their stated deadline of April 5. An EC spokesperson declined to comment. The deal has already been cleared in the US, Australia and New Zealand. Canada has been the most quiet investigation so far, with no stated deadline (they won’t even acknowledge publicly that they are reviewing the deal).
Corporate; Melville House Adds UK Branch; Wimpy Kid Stationery
Melville House is creating a UK-based operation. Zeljka Marosevic, formerly of Fourth Estate, will run Melville House UK. Dennis Johnson tells the Bookseller the unit “would at first concentrate on marketing its 60 frontlist titles, as well as selected backlist, distributed in Britain through Turnaround.” He hopes to hire an editorial director before the end of the year with the aim of “crafting a list distinct from that of the US company.” Abrams has partnered with Galison Publishing to launch a line of Wimpy Kid gift and stationery products. They will be made and marketed in coordination Galison’s Mudpuppy brand, […]
New Zealand Clears Penguin Random House Merger, Too
New Zealand’s Commerce Commission announced Tuesday that they, too, have approved the pending Penguin Random House merger, following on the approvals by the DOJ in February and Australia’s commerce commission earlier this month. In their decision, which arrived a couple of weeks in advance of their April 5 deadline, Commission chairman Mark Berry said in a statement said they “looked at the potential impact of the merger in the markets for book publishing rights, printed book distribution services provided to third party publishers and the wholesale of books” and considered that “in each of the relevant markets, the merged [Penguin […]