Doonesbury offers a new twist in books excerpts–and controversy–this week. The comic strip is featuring short quotes from Joe McGinniss’s forthcoming book on Sarah Palin, THE ROGUE (with a 9/20 publication date). A chief of staff says “Sarah just isn’t comfortable in the presence of dark-skinned people,” and the head of her security detail as governor says, “You know what she was? A housewife who happened to be governor.” Andrew Sullivan says at The Beast that “McGinniss sent advance copies of his devastating book on Sarah Palin to three people: me, Garry Trudeau and Rosanne Cash. Make of that what […]
Marketing
Random House Moves to All-Digital Catalogs In 2012
Random House will move to digital-only catalogs next year, beginning with the summer 2012 children’s lists (for which the selling season begins in early January) and the fall 2012 adult lists. They are using the Edelweiss electronic catalog service, as well their own web sites. The randomhouse.biz site will feature searchable, sortable information for the trade on forthcoming titles, and the divisional consumer sites will integrate and display new title data as well. PDF downloads will be available as well, though some of the site resource enhancements are a work-in-progress, and will be ready for the transition. Random House director, […]
Higher Ed: Free Food Trucks From Living Language; Nook-to-School Promotion; and More
This week Random House’s language learning program, Living Language, will launch its new Platinum Edition, a multi-platform solution that will allow users to engage with a variety of languages through course books and CDs, mobile apps, an online course, an online community, and individualized instruction from a native speaker e-tutor. The course will initially be offered for $179 in French, Spanish, Italian and German, with Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic editions to come. (The Platinum app is also available for separate purchase.) As part of the launch, coordinated by the ad agency Mullen (most recently responsible for a multi-million dollar campaign […]
Controversy About Coal Lesson Packet Causes Scholastic To Cut Back Corporate-Sponsored Projects
After receiving a barrage of criticism back in May for sponsoring a fourth-grade lesson packet on coal-based energy that was paid for by the American Coal Foundation, Scholastic announced Sunday evening that it will cut back its InSchool marketing division’s corporate-sponsored projects and create a new review board to vet its materials. “We have to improve our standards, and make sure there’s not a scintilla of anything that could be suggested to be biased,” Scholastic president and ceo Richard Robinson told the NYT. “The vast majority of our programs are not controversial, but once in a while there was a […]
UK’s World Book Night Comes to US Under Carl Lennertz
A US division of the UK’s World Book Night program is being formed under the direction of HarperCollins vp, retail marketing Carl Lennertz, who starts there September 1. The second annual World Book Night will take place April 23 in the US and the UK. Twenty-five titles for the UK will be announced at the Frankfurt Book Fair on October 12, chosen by an editorial selection committee chaired by author Tracy Chevalier. In the US, a “cross-industry steering committee” is in formation. Lennertz says in the announcement, “I have loved everything about my time at Harper. The books, the people, […]
People, Etc.
OverDrive has hired Brian Gurewitz as director of content sales. He was formerly president of library sales for Random House’s Books on Tape. Katie O’Callaghan is joining the Harper as associate director, marketing, working across all of the Harper imprints including Harper, Harper Business, and Broadside Books. She was most recently senior marketing manager at Ballantine Bantam Dell. The Los Angeles Times book review will no longer employ freelance book reviewers or non-staff columnists. LAT spokesperson Nancy Sullivan tells PW, “This was a cost-saving move, strictly related to our budget.” She said “staff writers from outside the book department will take […]