As the AP reports, two short works from Ray Bradbury will be published posthumously this fall: A three-page intro to The Best American Nonrequired Reading called “The Book and the Butterfly,” and a piece called “Dear Santa,” in the holiday issue of Strand Magazine. Bill Macumber was released from jail earlier this week after serving 38 years in prison for two murders he maintains he did not commit, and Holt is moving up publication of a related book to January 2013. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Barry Siegel‘s MAINFEST INJUSTICE: The True Story of a Convicted Murderer and the Lawyers Who Fought […]
Amazon Cites “Technical Issue” for Kindle Buy Buttons That Disappeared–and Returned–Overnight
Late Thursday evening Amazon customers began to notice that buy buttons for Kindle books published by agency model publishers Random House, Penguin, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster and Hachette had disappeared, with Harper buy buttons dropping off after a twenty-minute interval. The deactivation was limited to the six agency model publishers, and affected Amazon’s US store only. At 1:28 AM Friday, an Amazon spokesperson told us and other outlets “the Kindle Store is experiencing a technical issue. We’re working to correct it.” A different spokesperson wrote back at 7 AM Friday to say “the issue had been fixed.” It remains unclear […]
People: New Religion Imprint for Crown; Former Penguin Canada President Bryan to Bloomsbury
Crown will launch a new dedicated religion imprint, Convergent Books, in Fall 2013. Aiming to publish between 8 and 10 books annually, it will “explore the contemporary faith experience for a broad range of Christians who are drawn to an open, inclusive, and culturally engaged exploration of faith.” The line will be headed by publisher of Crown’s Christian imprints Stephen Cobb and run out out of Colorado Springs, CO. The first list includes titles by David Anderson, Philip Gulley, Elizabeth Esther, Holly Burkhalter and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove. Former president of Penguin Canada Mike Bryan has been named executive director of Bloomsbury Information, reporting […]
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Buys Wiley’s Culinary and Reference Books
A sale has been announced for another big package of Wiley trade properties that have been on the market since March: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has acquired all of Wiley’s culinary book assets, along with Webster’s New World Dictionary and CliffsNotes. The cookbook line includes Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything franchise and books from authors such as authors such as Rose Levy Beranbaum, Marcus Samuelsson and Ellie Krieger, along with the Betty Crocker series, a Better Homes and Gardens line licensed from Meredith Corporation. Along with the books themselves, Wiley publisher Natalie Chapman will join HMH to overse the entire […]
Expanding Children’s
Next month Ruckus Media will expand their children’s ebook platform with a revamped Ruckus 2.0 app/store release and in advance, the company has announced a number of “ebook partnerships for digital distribution” with other publishers. Their new relationships include deals with Little, Brown Children’s, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s, Thomas Nelson and Charlesbridge Publishing, covering “about three dozen new titles” at launch with more titles to be added on a monthly basis thereafter. Licensed titles include THE POLAR EXPRESS, TOOT AND PUDDLE, many CURIOUS GEORGE titles, some Margaret Wise Brown titles, and HEAVEN IS FOR REAL FOR KIDS Release That announcement […]
People, Etc.
Abby Ranger has joined the early childhood group at Harper Children’s as senior editor. Previously she was an editor at Disney-Hyperion. In addition, Jocelyn Davies returns to the division as editor from Razorbill, where she held the same position. Donna Condon will move to Harlequin UK in January as editorial director, UK, responsible for Mills & Boon, Mira and Mira Ink. She has been senior commissioning editor at Piatkus Books. PGW will distribute Bilingual Books, which produces language learning product titles, as of January 1, 2013. 1973 National Book Award nominee for Apostles of Light, Ellen Douglas, 91, died Wednesday after […]