Kobo is joining the ereader/tablet movement with their just-announced Vox, dubbed “the People’s eReader.” Selling for $199.99 and shipping as of October 28, it runs Android 2.3 and promises easy web browsing, e-mail, and access to “over 15,000 hot music, video and game apps.” It weighs 14.2 ounces (lighter than Nook Color or Kindle Fire), and a vibrating Kobo pulse icon signifies pages with more social activity. Kobo says it comes with three free color ebooks. Berkley/NAL has announced a digital imprint (actually they call it an “e-initial eBook imprint”) launching in January 2012, InterMix. The line will debut with […]
New Imprints
News Briefs
The Jennifer Lyons Literary Agency has acquired a number of authors for representation from Rosalie Siegel, International Agency, Inc., including the estate of William Wharton, Dennis Covington, Dana Johnson, Rev Jen and cookbook author Sudha Koul. Siegel is joining Lyons as a consultant, and has referred additional authors to the agency. Stephanie Madoff Mack’s memoir THE END OF NORMAL: A Wife’s Anguish, A Widow’s New Life, has been moved up to an October 20 pub date by Blue Rider Press (with Laurie Sandell’s Madoff book set for October 31 release). Associate publisher for Blue Rider Aileen Boyle tells us the […]
People, Etc.
At Scholastic’s trade publishing division, editorial director David Levithan has been promoted to publisher and editorial director. In other promotions, Charisse Meloto moves up to executive director of publicity for print and digital publishing; Bess Braswell is now director of marketing; Victoria Tisch is director of marketing operations; Maria Dominguez is executive editor and manager, Scholastic en español; and Paul Banks moves up to executive art director, licensed publishing and school market originals. Simon & Schuster’s children’s imprints Aladdin and Simon Pulse will co-publish Beyond Words Publishing‘s children’s list. S&S will handle sales, distribution, and fulfillment of their 10 to […]
Announcements: Hachette Cuts 11 From Sales Force; Abrams Acquires SelfMadeHero; and More
Hachette Book Group has eliminated 11 positions in its sales & marketing department. In a statement the company said the layoffs came about “after an extensive review of our overall sales and marketing structure to identify effective ways to meet the changing needs of our account base….This is an extremely difficult decision to make, but it was necessary to tighten our sales force in order to adapt to evolution in the marketplace.” Abrams has bought UK graphic novel publisher SelfMadeHero and and will launch a US version of the company next spring with titles by Fernando Trueba and Javier Marisca, […]
Updates: An Extra National Book Awards Finalist; More on Amazon’s 47North
It turns out that Wednesday’s announcement of the National Book Awards was not entirely error-free, as in the early afternoon a sixth nominee in the Young People’s Literature category – CHIME by Fanny Billingsley, published by Dial – was added to the list. “We made a mistake, there was a miscommunication,” executive director of the National Book Foundation Harold Augebraum told the LA Times. “We could have taken one of the books away to keep it five, but we decided that it was better to add a sixth one as an exception, because they’re all good books.” Updating news from […]
Pan Macmillan’s Digital Imprint, Now Called Bello, Kicks Off With Curtis Brown UK Backlist
Pan Macmillan’s previously announced digital imprint devoted to backlist titles which they suggested would debut at Frankfurt has been renamed Macmillan Bello (supposedly for “hidden talent discovered and admired”) and acquired a marquee partner: Curtis Brown UK. The program will launch in November with 120 ebooks drawn exclusively from the agency’s backlist, with a further 400 titles to follow later next year. The launch list includes novels from Gerald Durrell, Vita Sackville-West; Francis Durbridge, D J Taylor, and Eva Ibbotson. “At Curtis Brown UK we have been researching the best ways to revive our authors’ out-of-print books, and were hugely impressed […]