In the UK, Henry Volans will lead a new Faber Press division as director. It comprises poetry, drama, film and classical music publishing in all formats, and incorporates Faber Fine Press, Faber Finds, and Faber Digital as well. CEO Stephen Page says: “Henry takes on a very wide brief with this role, looking at how we create value for our authors, and for our readers. With the materials at hand – the extraordinary backlist, the talented editors, there is a huge amount that can be done. Faber Social was our prototype for this without even knowing it, finding out what readers want and […]
International News
Corporate: PRH Finalizes Objetiva Purchase; Amazon’s WriteOn Beta; Authors Guild Met with DOJ; Core Source Adds Print Metadata
On October 1, Penguin Random House completed their acquisition of Brazilian trade publisher Objetiva, the final piece in their acquisition of the Santillana trade publishing business (the rest of which closed on July 1). As previously announced, CEO of Companhia das Letras Luiz Schwarcz will also oversee Objetiva, and Roberto Feith continues as general director. Amazon’s coming “new reader-powered publishing program” that was reported on a little over a week ago is called WriteOn by Kindle, Laura Owen discovers. The tag line on the beta site is, “Making good stories great and great stories better.” Access for now is by invitation code. An email […]
People, Etc.
Laura Nolan has joined Kuhn Projects as an agent. She was until recently the head of the book division for Paradigm. President of Weldon Owen Terry Newell will retire as president after more than 15 years with the company. Succeeding Newell is Roger Shaw, currently vp, publisher, reporting to Bonnier ceo Dave Freygang, who said in the announcement: “We appreciate Terry’s capable leadership through significant changes in the company’s ownership and the transformation of Weldon Owen from an independent book packager to a highly regarded publisher. Roger has been instrumental in generating long-term custom-publishing businesses with brand partners, creating innovative […]
People, Etc.
Emilie Polster has joined Little, Brown Children’s as executive director of marketing. She was previously senior director of integrated marketing & operations at Harper Children’s. At Picador, Andrea Rogoff has been promoted to senior publicist, while Elizabeth Bruce has been promoted to associate editor. In addition, Shannon Donnelly has joined as marketing manager. Previously she was a marketing manager at Dey Street Books. Min Lee rejoins the Penguin Random House Legal Department as vp, associate general counsel, executive director of privacy. Former University of California Press editorial director and University Press Books cofounder Sheila Levine, 65, died September 21 from ovarian […]
Amazon Rolls Out Kindle Unlimited In UK, At £7.99 A Month
On Wednesday Amazon launched their Kindle Unlimited subscription program in the UK, charging more on a relative basis, priced at £7.99 a month (or a little over $13, or 30 percent more than the US version). The offering is otherwise very similar to the US version, featuring a licensed deal for Harry Potter and a pay-by-the-book deal for Hunger Games, but no Lord of the Rings (which is controlled by Harper in the UK, rather than Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). Most of the books are KDP self-published titles and Amazon Publishing books, with some titles from independent, non-agency UK publishers. We […]
UK Publishers Association Asks Government to Investigate Unnamed eBookselling Monopoly
UK trade group the Publishers Association issued “an eight point plan for growth” in book and journal publishing with recommendations for the government. The one drawing the most attention is a very polite, British request to consider whether having one company dominate ebookselling and online bookselling is a good idea. Amazon is not mentioned by name, and PA chief executive Richard Mollet insists to the FT, “This is a genuine appeal for information. It would be disappointing if this were interpreted as an act of aggression” against that unnamed dominant company. The document asserts that “the book retail market in […]