Beleaguered, once-proud UK agency PFD has been sold again, this time to agent Michael Foster, who will merge it with his three-person company MF Management and rename it The Rights House. (Foster’s founding investor, and the largest non-executive shareholder of the newly merged agency, is UK PR maven and son-in-law of Rupert Murdoch, Matthew Freud.) As a result, ten of the agency’s 32 staffers are reportedly going to lose their jobs. Caroline Michel, who was hired as chief executive of PFD in 2007 after previous management rebuffed efforts by core longtime agents to buy back the agency, remains as a […]
International News
New Ventures: Bloomsbury Australia, Night Shade's New Imprint, and More
In a non-specific first quarter trading update–generally used to assure investors that everything is great–Bloomsbury announced that they will launch their own Australian division in January 2011. Current marketing director of Bloomsbury UK Kathleen Farrar will be managing director of the new unit. Their longtime Australian distributor Allen & Unwin will provide sales and distribution services to the new company. Update Sc-fi/horror publisher Night Shade Books is launching Pugilist Press, focused on “contemporary literary fiction with an edge.” Juliet Ulman is editor-in-chief of the new line, with Night Shade founder Jason Williams as publisher. Ulman had been at Bantam Dell […]
Hillendbrand's New Book Set for November; Demi Moore Is Shopping; and More
Seabiscuit author Laura Hillenbrand‘s new book UNBROKEN: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption has been announced for publication November 16 by Random House. (Seabiscuit was published in 2001.) They say it “tells the story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic athlete and Army Air Force bombardier who, in 1943, crashed into the Pacific Ocean and floated for 47 days on a small raft, surviving shark attacks, a typhoon, and attack from the Japanese bomber. Captured by the Japanese military, he was sent to a series of prisoner of war camps, where he was held for more than […]
Icelandic Volcano Hates Book Fairs?
The Eyjafjallajökull volcano sent up a fresh plume of ash over the weekend, resulting in at least some closures of UK air space. As of now restrictions have been lifted for London’s airports, but clearly international visitors coming to New York for BEA will need to watch the situation carefully and may experience some travel delays.UK airspace siteMet Office update
Sales and Income Improve at Bertelsmann, As Mondadori Sales Decline
In a brief first quarter trading update, Bertelsmann said that sales are up 2.5 percent, at 3.622 billion euros, and group income has returned to profitability at 45 million, compared to 78 million euro loss in the same period a year ago. No divisional data is provided in the quarterly update; those details will come in their half-year earnings report on August 31.Release Elsewhere in Europe, Mondadori also returned to modest profit in the quarter of 2.4 million euros, though their sales declined 2.8 percent to 345 million euros due to lower advertising and circulation. “Mondadori said it would continue […]
Angry Robot Imprint Sold to Osprey
In a strangely-worded press release that makes you struggle to sort out what has happened, Harper UK’s science fiction imprint Angry Robot Books, started a year ago, has been sold to Osprey Publishing. Osprey focuses on niche communities, like military history. Angry Robot publisher Marc Gascoigne says the publishing program will be unaffected–except for a delay and relaunch. “Our publishing programme for 2010/11 will be basically unaffected by these changes. There will be a short break while the transition is sorted out, but we will be re-launching in September 2010 and then it will be business as usual.” Terms were […]