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Personnel News Publishers Weekly has named longtime publishing reporter Sara Nelson as editor-in-chief. According to the press release, former editor Nora Rawlinson “has decided to leave the organization to pursue other interests.” The magazine’s recently-appointed publisher William McGorry tells the NYT, “We felt we were looking for a new perspective.” He says they are trying to make the publication “a more compelling read.” The Times observes, “Publishers Weekly has faced many of the problems confronting general newsweekly magazines, including growing competition from daily electronic publications and Internet sites that cover the same ground.” Vintage Español has named Milena Alberti-Perez to […]

Boos to Run FBF One little mystery for the year has gotten cleared up nice and early, as the Frankfurt Book Fair announces the naming of Jürgen Boos, 43, as the show’s new director, starting April 1. Boos is currently head of marketing, sales and distribution scientific publisher Wiley-VCH in Germany. Current director Volker Neumann “is to remain in office parallel to Boos until December 31.” A List of Lists Best of 2004 lists have quickly yielded, per tradition, to previews of 2005. The best preface comes from the Boston Globe’s Dave Mehegan, who admits: “Forecasting the big books of […]

Schedule Considering how quiet it is, we were surprised to find a good selection of interesting pieces to share. Just as we did last week, this issue is a combo regular Lunch and Lunch Weekly. Our schedule is still uncertain, but look for one or two more dispatches later this week. Timing Shines on Canseco’s Book Jose Canseco has followed an ever-changing path ever since he first started shopping his book about his baseball days two-and-a-half years ago, but with steroids and sports making front page news, the timing suddenly looks just right. Originally scheduled for release in late April […]

Schedule Notes Theoretically this note is meant to explain our publication schedule for the next two weeks, but I haven’t really made any decisions yet. Some Lunch will be served through next Thursday, though probably not every day. We will, however, have at least a couple of year-end extras on the way. I imagine dispatches will be very light the following week, but more on that later. Deals will be dispatched as usual, both daily and weekly. Personnel News Tracy Behar is moving to Little, Brown as executive editor. She was editorial director at Atria and Washington Square Press. Publisher […]

An Extra-Happy Holiday at S&S Among the houses clearly having a good year was Simon & Schuster, from political surprises at the beginning of the year to long-awaited releases like Bob Dylan’s memoir at the end of the year, with gifts like Dan Brown’s backlist giving back all year long (Angels & Demons and Deception Point now have 11.5 million copies in print). And even the Red Sox lent a hand. CEO Jack Romanos buoyantly congratulates employees in his year-end letter, noting “double-digit gains in both revenues and profits.” This all comes amidst the traditional acknowledgment of the general challenges […]

Olson’s Letter Peter Olson has caused somewhat more than the usual stir with his annual year-end letter. Both the WSJ and the NY Daily News take note of a line near the end that reads: “In the year ahead I will report to you on our progress with these initiatives, which, in time, may include direct sales online of our books to readers as a complement to our existing sales channels and the expansion of our proprietary publishing, as well as many other publishing, marketing, and distribution ideas.” The Journal erroneously leads with the conclusion that it’s “the first such […]