Laurie Chittenden has joined Hyperion an editor-at-large, where she will will focus on acquiring a mix of commercial nonfiction and fiction book projects. She spent the past five years at William Morrow as executive editor, and returns to the publishing house where she began her career in 1993. Steve Kasdin has joined Curtis Brown as director of digital strategy, to “supervise their e-book program” and help “coordinate their dealings with publishers and etailers.” Kasdin was at Amazon on the Kindle team before relocating back to the East Coast. Meanwhile, the Jean Naggar Literary Agency has posted an open invitation to […]
Awards: Newbery and Caldecott Winners; NBCC Award Nominees; and More
The ALA presented their many Youth Media Awards this morning on the closing day of their winter meeting in Denver. (Thanks to the organizers for the live webcast of this year’s presentation.) The Newbery medal went to DEAD END IN NORVELT, by Jack Gantos (FSG); the Caldecott went to A BALL FOR DAISY, illustrated and written by Chris Raschka (Schwartz & Wade). Among other honorees, John Corey Whaley won the YA Michael L. Printz Award for WHERE THINGS COME BACK (Atheneum) and Susan Cooper won the Margaret A. Edwards Award for “significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature.” For the complete list of medalists […]
Some Things iBooks Author Is, and Isn’t
After Thursday’s morning press conference, Apple published some online documentation that cleared up at least a few details regarding their new iBooks Author software. Once books are created, they can be offered for sale in the iBookstore (under its standard revenue split) or given away there for free. All books must be no larger than 2 GB (and the software can easily create very large files). Creators can also turn iBooks Author files into PDFs or iBooks documents that they can distribute independently–but only for free. Apple requires that if the ebooks are to be sold, “you must do so […]
RCS Entertaining Offers For Flammarion Sale
Italian publishing giant RCS, which owns Rizzoli and Corriere della Serra, has confirmed what a number of stories out of Europe had been reporting for the past few days: they are exploring the possibility of selling off Flammarion in France, which it has owned since 2000. RCS said Friday in a statement obtained by Bloomberg that there will be a preliminary review of any expression of interest “in relation to assets not straightly included in the core business, comprising Flammarion, and non-core assets.” Earlier this week EconomiaWeb reported that Gallimard expressed an interest in buying Flammarion, with RCS seeking at […]
People, Etc.
Publisher of Cormorant Books Marc Côté has also been named publisher of Thomas Allen, effective March 1. He replaces Patrick Crean, who is leaving after more than 12 years with the company. “I feel I have accomplished the goals I set out to achieve…namely to launch and establish a thriving new independent publishing house that is nationally recognized for its award-winning and critically well-received books,” Crean said in a statement. “I also feel that in this time of historic change in the book industry, it is a good moment for me to pause and reflect on the essentials of book […]
Apple Launches iBooks2, “A New Textbook Experience For The iPad”, Opens Door to Self-Published Illustrated Books
Apple svp of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller led off Apple’s much-anticipated “education announcement” at New York’s Guggenheim Museum Thursday morning, before a strictly-limited but modestly-sized audience of about 150 invitees and members of the press. (Though focused on education, guests included multiple heads of trade houses.) “This is really special for everyone at Apple, because today’s event is about education. Education is deep in our DNA and has been from the very beginning.” Schiller said that “as students are starting to be introduced to iPad in learning, some really remarkable things are beginning to happen.” That was true to an […]