We were interested in Bob Miller’s own take on the Harper Studio experiment, which he offers below: “The Harper Studio experience has been a gratifying and educational one. I think that the large publishing conglomerates of the future should have units devoted to experimentation, and I think we need to keep trying as an industry to find ways to share risks and rewards differently with authors on the one hand and retailers on the other. Authors need to be treated as partners both creatively and financially; booksellers also need to find ways to share the risk, especially on new authors. […]
New Imprints
Bloomberg Press to Become Imprint of Wiley
Bloomberg Press, reported last November as slated for closure on an unspecified schedule while the company explored all options for what to do with the line, will become an imprint of Wiley. Wiley says they will work with Bloomberg to “extend the Bloomberg and BusinessWeek brands to long-form content in books and other formats” and they plan to “publish the content using all media platforms including print, e-books and digital.” Wiley president of professional and trade publishing Steve Kippur says, “This is a powerful alliance that leverages Wiley’s vast experience in publishing business and finance books. The relationship takes advantage […]
Penguin Adds Science Imprint
In July Penguin will debut their newest imprint, Current, focused on science books for general readers. Portfolio and Sentinel president and publisher Adrian Zackheim will have the same titles for Current as well, and the line will share editorial, marketing and publicity staff with Portfolio and Sentinel. They plan to publish five to eight new titles a year. Zackheim comments in the announcement, “Once Current gets ramped up, we aim to publish in every subcategory from genetics to quantum physics to neuroscience.” The first title is a July release by journalist David Stipp, THE YOUTH PILL: Scientists at the Brink […]
Announcements: Imprints
Lerner Publishing’s Carolrhoda Books is launching a young adult line this fall, Carolrhoda Lab. Speaking of young adult books, yesterday’s Automat link to an LAT piece on the rising popularity of YA novels among adult readers was so heavily re-tweeted that it’s worth a separate link. “Authors may gear their novels toward the junior and senior high crowd, but adults are snapping up the books, often about misfit teens or fantasy worlds…. Attracted by well-written, fast-paced and engaging stories that span the gamut of genres and subjects, such readers have mainstreamed a niche long derided as just for kids.” Kris […]
Random House Is Developing Video Games
The Random House Publishing Group has set up a unit to develop video games, first reported in WSJ and then confirmed in a press release, run by director of creative development Keith Clayton and director of business development Mikita Labanok, who report to Del Rey/Spectra publisher Scott Shannon. The announcement says the unit will create “original transmedia intellectual property–story content that can be accessed through multiple media sources including video games, social networks on the web, mobile platforms, in print and on film–that will be developed and marketed in partnerships with other media companies.The group will also offer editorial services […]
People and Companies
Agent Mary Ann Naples, co-owner of The Creative Culture, has joined startup OpenSky (www.theopenskyproject.com) as vp of development, representing the voices of authors and brands at the company. Former Scholastic UK managing director (and then briefly chief executive of the Headline publishing group) Kate Wilson is starting a children’s book publisher, Nosy Crow, launching in January 2011. The company is focusing on both traditional printed books as well as books as electronic apps. Ralph Munsen joins Hachette Book Group today as svp, chief information officer. He was most recently vp, technology at Clear Channel..He will lead HBG’s technology group, and […]