International bestselling author Cornelia Funke is parting ways with both Little, Brown Children’s in the US and Chicken House in the UK after disagreeing with editorial requests from each house. Instead, she will publish the third volume in her Mirrorworld series, The Golden Yarn, through her company, Breathing Books, in November. In both cases, the publishers have reverted rights to the first two books in the series to Funke, and Breathing Books will re-release the first two titles in November as well. Funke will use the UK titles for all three books. (In the US, the first two books were […]
New Imprints
People: Fotinos to Lead Combined Tarcher Perigee
John Duff has decided to retire after 23 as publisher of Perigee Books, leaving at the end of the month. Penguin Publishing Group president Madeline McIntosh writes to staff, “He will be missed not only for his accomplishments on behalf of the business, but also as a warm and generous mentor to so many. I know you will join me in thanking him for everything he has done for our books, our authors, and for Penguin.” She adds in a separate memo, “John himself is irreplaceable, but he has brought his characteristic careful attention to helping plan a smooth transition for […]
People: ICM Pairs with Helen Brann Agency
ICM announced “it has entered into a succession plan with The Helen Brann Agency,” while Helen Brann, 82, continues to work along with ICM in representing her clients. Brann says in the announcement, “Although I have no plans to retire from this job I love, I thought it important to put a plan in place to ensure the future success of my clients, and Esther [Newberg] and her team at ICM became the apparent choice to work alongside me in this process. I’m proud to work with them to represent my clients.” Brann already works with Newberg on books commissioned with the Robert Parker estate (represented […]
People, Etc.
At Penguin Random House, head of global corporate finance Milena Alberti is being promoted to chief financial officer as July 1, succeeding Coram Williams as he returns to Pearson as their CFO. Alberti will join the Penguin Random House board of directors, as well as the company’s North American board and global executive committee. James Johnston is being promoted to the new position of svp, deputy chief financial officer under Alberti, serving in both worldwide and U.S. capacities. Kate Geraghty has been promoted to vp, communications for Macmillan Higher Education and Macmillan New Ventures. At Grand Central Publishing, Caitlin Mulrooney-Lyski has been promoted to […]
James Patterson Launches New Children’s Imprint
James Patterson will launch a new dedicated children’s imprint, jimmy patterson, at longtime publisher Little, Brown, that will release eight to 12 middle-grade and young adult titles annually (4-6 of those titles will be Patterson’s, with the other acquisitions to be overseen by him.) “We’re not going to buy a lot of books, but if we buy them, we’re going to publish them with gusto,” Patterson told the NYT in advance of the official announcement at BEA Friday morning. Proceeds from the imprint’s titles will go to scholarships for teachers; helping bookstores; supporting school libraries; increasing the reach of Patterson’s […]
Briefs: HarperCollins Adds Titles to Shazam; Sierra Club Closes Book Imprints; and More
HarperCollins will be the exclusive global book partner for the launch of music recognition app Shazam‘s new visual recognition functionality. (Other newspaper and magazine partners include Condé Nast, Esquire, Time and the Wall Street Journal.) Starting immediately whenever Shazam users wave their mobile phone over any HarperCollins book or promotional content with the Shazam camera logo on it, they will instantly get taken to custom mobile experiences from HarperCollins, including exclusive content, author interviews, special offers, videos, playlists and more. Available and forthcoming titles in the program include Harper Lee’s Go Set A Watchman; Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph […]