In August author/marketing guru/entrepreneur Seth Godin announced on his popular blog that he would no longer “publish in a traditional way.” The basis thesis was that, now that Godin is in direct and meaningful contact with his core readership, “adding layers or faux scarcity doesn’t help me or you.” That post inspired ideas in multiple quarters, including at Amazon.com–which has worked with Godin on a variety of promotional initiatives over the course of his career. They crafted a new suite of services that is being called “Powered by Amazon,” which the release says “enables authors to use Amazon’s global distribution, […]
New Imprints
People
Former longtime director of rights and contracts at McClelland & Stewart Marilyn Biderman has opened an eponymous literary agency, based in Toronto, and is out with her first submission in both the US and Canada: French-Canadian Marguerite Pigeon’s debut novel OPEN PIT. Biderman says she will represent genre, commercial and literary fiction, along with narrative nonfiction and memoir and “the occasional expert as a client as well.” In deciding her next step in publishing, Biderman says, “I really looked at what was important to me and where my allegiances lie. It’s always been with the publishing process and protecting the […]
Penguin Takes Classics to Egypt In New Joint Venture
The WSJ reports that Penguin is about to announce a joint venture with Egypt-based publisher Dar El Shorouk to publish books from the company’s Classics line in Arabic. The line is expected to debut in “the first half of 2011,” and will incorporate some Arabic classics as well. Dar El Shorouk chairman Ibrahim El Moallem believes the ebook editions in particular “will go all over the place,” even in Arabic-speaking countries where authorities try to censor books. He also “said that presenting the Penguin library as a series of the world’s greatest books may help trump the censorship issue.” The […]
Random House to Close Operations at Tricycle Press Imprint
Random House Children’s Books is closing the Berkeley-based Tricycle Press imprint, acquired as part of Ten Speed Press, on January 31, 2011. They will continue to “sell and support” the Tricycle backlist and will decide soon what label forthcoming titles will be published under. Publisher Nicole Geiger and the four editorial staff members will leave the company as result. Tricycle marketing and publicity manager Laura Mancuso will remain as part of Random House Children’s.
Prebich Reported Out At Ailing Dorchester, and More People News, Etc.
Former employees of Dorchester report that ceo John Prebich (who also ran the company’s magazine division, Dorchester Media) left the company on Friday. Queries to Prebich and other remaining employees were not answered. Rob Crawford will join The Overlook Press as editor on November 29. He has been an assistant editor at Harper. Nicholas Brealey Publishing has hired Hillary Park as publicist. She has formerly worked as associate publicist at Putnam and Riverhead and event marketing manager for Borders. The company has also partnered with Shelton Interactive to develop a new social media platform and website, and is working with […]
Peripatetic Penzler Moves Again, Now to Grove/Atlantic
Otto Penzler, who has been publishing through Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in the US for the past six years, is relaunching the Mysterious Press imprint with his newest publishing partner, Grove/Atlantic. Penzler reacquired the imprint’s name from Hachette Book Group, having sold the original Mysterious Press to Warner Books in 1989. That move parallels Penzler’s relocation in the UK, where moved his line to Grove/Atlantic spin-off Atlantic Books, as part of the new Corvus division led by Anthony Cheetham, last November. (Cheetham has previously set up Penzler’s line at his former company Quercus, after almost setting it up at Random UK’s […]