HarperCollins announced Tuesday afternoon that it will offer the trade paperback edition of Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird at a lower price through its accounts that sell directly to K-12 schools in the US. The price promotion, which starts April 27, will reduce the $14.99 list price so that schools can “effectively purchase the book based on an $8.99 cover price.” A company spokesperson tells us the promotion is “open-ended at this time” and they “will evaluate it on an ongoing basis as we do with other sales promotions.” HarperCollins US & Canada president & publisher Michael Morrison said in […]
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Scholastic Responds to Criticism on Book Recall; CEO Determined It Didn’t Meet Their Standards
Scholastic issued another press release on Monday regarding the withdrawn picture book A Birthday Cake for George Washington, responding to criticism from PEN America and the National Coalition Against Censorship calling the move “a shocking and unprecedented case of self-censorship.” Scholastic insists it was not self-censoring, and removed the book “because it did not meet the standards which support our publishing mission.” The new statement attributes the decision to ceo Richard Robinson, who “determined that the book should be withdrawn because the book did not meet Scholastic’s standards for appropriate presentation of complex subject matter in a picture book directed […]
Scholastic Pulls Picture Book After Slavery Depiction Backlash
Scholastic announced that it has withdrawn publication of the picture book A Birthday Cake for George Washington by Ramin Ganeshram and illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton, which was published on January 5. The book had been criticized sharply for its upbeat depiction of slaves, with School Library Journal calling it “highly problematic” while Kirkus Reviews deemed it “an incomplete, even dishonest treatment of slavery.” There are more than 100 one-star reviews of the book on Amazon so far. The publisher said in a statement Sunday night: “While we have great respect for the integrity and scholarship of the author, illustrator, and editor, we […]
Seasons Executive Greetings
In keeping with tradition, publishing ceos are thanking employees and celebrating the year’s accomplishments through year-end letters. Simon & Schuster ceo Carolyn Reidy writes that, “despite today’s challenging retail environment, with two weeks remaining in December we are well positioned to surpass last year’s financial performance, a tribute to the passion and effort put forth by all of you across the company and throughout the year.” Among 2015’s triumphs at the company, “We have created and perfected-in short order and at multiple imprints within the company-a successful business publishing digitally savvy YouTube personalities and entrepreneurs…. With each successive book throughout the […]
Knopf Celebrates 100, Live and In Print
Yes, Knopf threw itself a grand party “in honor of its authors” — with over 200 of them in attendance — as well as a celebration of 100 years of publishing at the New York Public Library on Thursday night. The event was complete with a rented klieg light truck, six real borzoi dogs greeting guests at the door, a musical number from author of M Train Patti Smith, and even an exclusive after-party. But they are also celebrating with a hardcover book, provided to last night’s one thousand or more guests, that “offer[s] the simple facts of our century […]
Simon & Schuster’s Year-End Letter
Simon & Schuster ceo Carolyn Reidy wrote to employees on Friday afternoon with her holiday wishes following “another successful year in which we enjoyed outstanding publishing across the board, in every category and from all our publishing imprints and divisions.” Much of the letter is a highlights reel, with one standout: “To my mind, the most satisfying publishing event of the year belongs to Anthony Doerr’s #1 New York Times bestseller All the Light We Cannot See, a book that we published with exceptional passion and skill, which galvanized staff across the company and at our bookseller partners, and that […]