Lucinda Halpern is a literary agent and the founder of Lucinda Literary, based in New York. She currently represents New York Times and internationally best-selling authors in the categories of personal growth, popular science, narrative nonfiction, memoir, and upmarket fiction. Her classes and coaching programs have been taught to hundreds of writers worldwide, and became the inspiration for her new book Get Signed: Find an Agent, Land a Book Deal, and Become a Published Author (Hay House; February 6, 2024). In GET SIGNED, you discuss why it’s important to commit to a genre and find comp titles. Can you talk […]
People 2/21
Alessandra Bastagli joins One Signal next week as vp and publisher. Bastagli has been editorial director at Astra House. She succeeds founding publisher Julia Cheiffetz, who left in January.
Obituaries: Beth Vesel; Jeff Wilson
Beth Vesel, 66, president of Beth Vesel Literary Agency, died suddenly of a heart attack on February 16. Her publishing career spanned 40 years, first at Watkins/Loomis Agency, and later at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. She founded BVLA in 2003. A funeral will be held on Friday, February 23 at 6 pm at the New York Society for Ethical Culture, 2 W. 64th St, New York City. Jeff Wilson, vice president, contracts at Hachette Book Group, died on Wednesday, February 14. Wilson joined HBG in December 2022 after a long career at Simon & Schuster. Min Lee, evp, general counsel […]
People 2/20
Roger Priddy, publisher of Priddy Books, will retire on June 30, after which he will continue to work with the imprint as an author and consultant.
Freelance Publicists Keep the Stress of In-House Publicity But Earn Higher Paychecks
It’s a common fantasy. On a stressful day in the office, inbox overflowing, being pulled from meeting to meeting, while the work never seems to end: What if I worked for myself? In reality, is the flexibility of freelance work worth the financial worries, the hustle for the next contract, and being constantly available to clients? For many freelance book publicists, the answer is a resounding yes. As part of our continued series on compensation, we spoke with independent publicists—those working solo or at small firms—about their rates, their take-home pay, and how the stress doesn’t go down when you’re […]
New Books Publishing February 20
Cory Doctorow and A.J. Finn publish novels this week, while new nonfiction includes works by Leslie Jamison and Marie Arana. Also out this week is Madeleine Gray’s GREEN DOT, which is excerpted in our Buzz Books 2023: Fall/Winter anthology. 13 works of fiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-fiction-publishing-february-20 11 works of nonfiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-nonfiction-publishing-february-20 From Buzz Books https://buzz.publishersmarketplace.com/ We consult a number of sources in compiling our weekly lists and PM members can see our lists for the coming months on Bookshop. Check out February‘s 68 fiction releases, 42 works of nonfiction; and 26 children’s titles; plus March‘s 92 fiction releases, 48 […]