Edgar Award-winning author Steve Hamilton is parting ways with Minotaur Books, his publisher for more than seventeen years, less than two months before the scheduled September 29 release date of his next thriller, THE SECOND LIFE OF NICK MASON. After issuing a terse announcement to various trade publications and accounts saying “publication had been cancelled”, Minotaur spokesperson Tracey Guest added in an updated statement: “After many years of publishing Steve Hamilton, unfortunately SMP has had a parting of the ways and will not be moving forward with the publication of THE SECOND LIFE OF NICK MASON. We wish Steve all […]
New Releases/Forthcoming
People, Etc.
Kathleen Schmidt will join Running Press as vp, director of marketing and publicity on August 10, reporting to Kristen Kiser and working out of the company’s Philadelphia offices. Previously director of publicity at Perseus’s joint-venture line Weinstein Books, Schmidt will continue to handle corporate communications for the Perseus Books Group as well. The American Booksellers Association is restructuring its technology department into two separate teams — one responsible for all of the association’s general technology needs, the other for IndieCommerce. As such Greg Galloway has been promoted to technology director and will become a member of ABA’s senior staff, while […]
People, Etc.
Kaplan ceo Thomas Leppert has resigned, effective August 21, and will be replaced by Andrew Rosen, chairman of Kaplan and evp of its owner Graham Holdings Company. Lepper joined Kaplan in 2013 and “led the expansion of Kaplan’s highly successful international business and a turnaround at Kaplan Test Prep.” Chairman of the parent company Donald Graham said Leppert “has been a huge contributor to every aspect of Kaplan’s worldwide business. We are sorry to lose Tom, but understand why he wanted to leave; the pace of change at Kaplan will continue.” He adds, “No one knows Kaplan and its people better than Andy does.” Jeffrey […]
Watchman Stats and Stories
We’ll try to keep this as brief as possible. Barnes & Noble announced Wednesday that sales of Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman “at its bookstores nationwide have surpassed first day sales of all other adult trade fiction books in its company history, including Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol, the previous bestselling book, which was published in 2009.” Mostly that release shows that BN still has a little PR savvy left in them, since the declaration is not all that different from Amazon’s earlier note that Watchman was their “most pre-ordered print title since the 2007 release” of Harry Potter […]
Carter Op-Ed Claims “Full Story” on WATCHMAN Manuscript Discovery
Over the weekend all pretense of holding to the Tuesday embargo for reviews of GO SET A WATCHMAN evaporated. Michiko Kakutani went first late Friday, revealing in her NYT review (which essentially doubled as breaking news) that Harper Lee’s original novel — out of which resulted TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD — presents an older, infirm Atticus Finch espousing racist, segregationist views and going to “at least one KKK meeting.” At the same time, it appeared the WSJ’s “pre-publication marketing campaign” included an essay from Lee’s “estate trustee, lawyer, and friend” Tonja B. Carter, who claims to tell the “full story, […]
Forthcoming: Knopf to Publish Strayed’s BRAVE ENOUGH In October
Knopf announced they will publish Cheryl Strayed‘s BRAVE ENOUGH, which “will draw from the wide range of Strayed’s writings and hone in on more than 100 of her most popular quotes,” on October 27, with a planned 100,000-copy first printing for the $16.95 hardcover. The author of WILD as well as TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS said in the announcement: “From the comic to the profound, the simple to the complex, the sorrowful to the ecstatic, the inspiring to the stern, whenever I need consolation or encouragement, a clear-eyed perspective or a swift kick in the pants—which is often — quotes are what […]