Friday morning, Simon & Schuster became the first large publishing company to withdraw from this year’s London Book Fair. Spokesperson Adam Rothberg told PL, “After much consideration, and out of concern for the health and safety of our employees, Simon & Schuster has decided it will not be attending the London Book Fair.” He added, “Those staff who were scheduled to attend are looking at alternate means to have meetings with their contacts in the international publishing community, as they already do on a year-round basis.” With the cancellation of international trade gatherings, from Facebook’s F8 event in May to […]
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A New Controversy, Over Rage Baking Book
RAGE BAKING, published February 4 by Tiller Press, has sparked controversy after writer Tangerine Jones said the authors coopted the title and concept from her blog and social media channels. According to Simon & Schuster, the book features “a range of voices to speak to all those who feel a sense of outrage over what is happening in our society and express their rage and their creativity through baking.” Edited by Kathy Gunst and Katherine Alford, the contributors include Ruth Reichl, Dorie Greenspan, Preeti Mistry, Rebecca Traister, Ani Difranco, and others. In a February 14 post on Medium, Jones wrote […]
Penguin Random House to Take Over Baker & Taylor’s Reno Warehouse
Penguin Random House will take over the operation and management of Baker & Taylor’s former Reno, NV fulfillment center, giving the publisher and its distribution clients a sizable facility to service accounts in the western US. The Reno location comprises 244,000 square feet of warehouse capacity, and joins PRH’s distribution centers in Westminster, MD and Crawfordsville, IN. PRH US ceo Madeline McIntosh says in the announcement, “We have discussed having a western fulfillment center for years, and now is the perfect time to make that happen. Creating a western hub in the Penguin Random House supply chain expands our distribution […]
Amazon Cancels Plans for New York Headquarters
Amazon announced Thursday that it has cancelled plans for its new NYC headquarters, after facing opposition from the local community. “After much thought and deliberation, we’ve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens,” said the company in a statement. Long Island City was selected in November as ones of the locations for HQ2, but residents and politicians spoke out about the transit and real estate problems it could create, and criticized the $3 billion in incentives offered by New York City and state leaders. Amazon said in the […]
So Many Books, So Much Trouble Printing
2018 is notable for at least two related phenomena. The year began and ended with big nonfiction titles — Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff, and then Becoming by Michelle Obama –that sparked significant demand and had publishers scrambling to print enough hardcovers. That brings into relief a challenge that was present all year and will clearly carry over into 2019: Tight markets for both paper and book printing and binding had publishers juggling all the time to keep popular titles and steady backlist alike in stock. The issues look systemic, but paper and printing shortages were exacerbated by some of the […]
YA: Abrams Cancels Graphic Novel; Lerner Acquires Zest Books
Abrams has cancelled publication of controversial graphic novel A SUICIDE BOMBER SITS IN THE LIBRARY by writer Jack Gantos and illustrator Dave McKean, which was to be released in May 2019. The decision was made “together with the book’s creators,” after the title received criticism online. Abrams said in a statement, “While the intention of the book was to help broaden a discussion about the power of literature to change lives for the better, we recognize the harm and offense felt by many at a time when stereotypes breed division, rather than discourse.” The cancellation follows posts on Twitter by Zainab […]