Questions emerged on social media last week over the status of the Association of American Publishers’ Young to Publishing group, which provides services and community for entry-level and junior industry employees, and appeared to have gone inactive. The committee’s website and Twitter have been dormant since December 2018, and on May 1, an admittedly “rogue” ex-committee member tweeted from the YPG account that, “We were all sad when AAP asked us to cease programming and communications at the end of 2018 for a ‘reset.'” The committee member added, “It’s unclear what AAP has planned for the future of this group, […]
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Stanford University Press Gets Funding for One More Year
Following significant community pushback, Stanford University has agreed to fund Stanford University Press for one more year, reversing a decision in April to discontinue the $1.7 million annual subsidy. Provost Persis Drell wrote in a letter to faculty that the funds would be extended through 2019-2020 “to help ensure a smooth transition to a sustainable future” and that they could possibly be continued through the 2020-2021 school year as well. Additionally, the university said it might loosen fundraising restrictions on the press that currently keep it from soliciting major donations, and it pledged to “ensure faculty input” in planning for […]
Reese’s Book Club Explores A Subscription Box
Content platform Hello Sunshine, home of Reese Witherspoon’s wildly successful book club, is considering a subscription box offering. Tech Crunch was the first to notice that a survey sent to Hello Sunshine’s email list April 16 included several box-focused questions. The 43-question survey, appropriately incentivized with a contest to win a book box, asks readers what subscriptions they already receive; what matters most in a subscription, with 12 options that include personalization, saving money, and “a box full of surprises”; and how they prefer to pay for subscriptions. It also asks how social impact affects readers’ buying decisions, one of […]
Latimer and Urbahn’s Javelin Offers Trump World Figures an Exit
As government officials look to leave the “controversial precincts of Trump World” their job options are slimmer than usual. Many find their way to literary agents Matt Latimer and Keith Urbahn at Javelin who “have turned this professional abyss into their market niche,” the NYT Magazine writes. The right book deal provides money as well as “an opportunity to reposition and redeem themselves.” Latimer tells the NYT, “A lot of them are trying to figure out: How do I make something out of this for my own well-being? But also: How do I distance myself from this guy?” He claims, […]
Penguin Random House Acquires UK’s Little Tiger Group
Penguin Random House has acquired UK children’s publisher and packager Little Tiger Group, with the deal to close on April 1. CEO and cofounder of Little Tiger Group Monty Bhatia will report to Barbara Marcus, president and publisher of Random House Children’s, who “initiated and led the acquisition.” Little Tiger will be run as a standalone company, “aligned closely” with RH Children’s and will maintain its five imprints, led by publishers Jude Evans and Thomas Truong. Little Tiger will also “continue its business of selling its books directly to a variety of publishers and select retailers and distributors.” PRH has […]
AAP’s January StatShot Shows 7 Percent Decline in Adult Trade
The AAP released their StatShot publisher-reported monthly sales statistics for January. As we have explained before, the statistics for any given month turn out to have little or no statistical significance, particular for the print categories. The current report has adult trade sales at $352.5 in January 2019 (down 7 percent from $380 million last January), with hardcover sales 10 percent lower and mass market sales 18 percent lower. Children’s and YA increased 4 percent, to $137 million from $132 million. Children’s hardbacks and paperbacks showed slight increases, with board books up 15 percent. Digital audio continued to gain, at […]