Publishers Lunch

Personnel News and Appointments Diane Reverand is leaving St. Martin’s after four years there. Deputy managing director of Penguin UK Andrew Welham is leaving the company at Christmas, after “23 truly wonderful years.” At Da Capo, Kate Kazeniac has been promoted to associate director of publicity. Brand Republic reports that Harper has hired Agency.com to develop its website and make it “more integrated and consumer-focused,” as well as handling digital marketing for authors and titles. They add: “Harpers wants to develop interactive communities of authors and readers. It is also looking at how it can make content available through blogs, […]

Whiting Winners These ten writers have been recognized for “their extraordinary talent and promise” with $40,000 grants from the Whiting Foundation. Fiction writers Yiyun Li (A Thousand Years of Good Prayers) Charles D’Ambrosio (The Dead Fish Museum) Micheline Aharonian Marcom (The Daydreaming Boy) Nina Marie Martínez (¡Caramba! A Tale Told in Turns of the Card) Patrick O’Keeffe (The Hill Road) Poets Sherwin Bitsui (Shapeshift) Tyehimba Jess (leadbelly) Suji Kwock Kim (Notes from the Divided Country: Poems) Playwrights Stephen Adly Guirgis (The Little Flower of East Orange) Bruce Norris (The Pain and the Itch) Salute these Shorts The extremely short story […]

Amazon Makes Market Happy Total sales at Amazon for the third quarter rose 24 percent to $2.31 billion, as net income fell more than third to $19 million, “mainly due to technology and content investments… including seller platforms, web services and digital initiatives.” North American media sales (which include books) rose 15 percent to $785 million for the quarter, as international media sales hit $757 million, up 20 percent. Results exceeded Wall Street’s projections, and the company cheered investors by noting that the ramp up in technology and content costs will diminish next quarter. Separately, the AP notes that Amazon […]

Hodgmania The LAT goes looking for the real John Hodgman, now “an accidental celebrity” following his role as PC in a series of Apple TV commercials but always an “archly amusing nerd.” Though both stand in contrast to “the other Hodgman, by all accounts, a sweet man, devoid of enemies and pretense, a father of two and husband for seven years to a high school teacher.” New projects include a second book of fake facts, and an effort to turn his public radio appearances into a show for Showtime. LAT Adobe Offers Flashy Reader Adobe is rearing its e-book face […]

Houghton Sale Pending Dublin-based educational software company Riverdeep is preparing to buy Houghton Mifflin from private equity owners Thomas H. Lee and Bain Capital, even though the publishing company is thought to be almost four times larger in sales. Irish papers say the deal would be financed through a combination of equity and debt, and they speculate a valuation for Houghton of $3.5 billion. A deal is expected to be finalized within the next few weeks. If correct, that would be a multiple of almost three times last year’s sales of $1.28 billion. The current owners bought the company in […]

Deal Reports Just e-mail to deals@PublishersMarketplace if you aren’t using the online form linked below. Report a deal using the online form The Key As usual, the handy key to our Lunch deal categories. While all reports are always welcome, those that include a category will generally receive a higher listing when it comes time to put them all together. “nice deal” $1 – $49,000 “very nice deal” $50,000 – $99,000 “good deal” $100,000 – $250,000 “significant deal” $251,000 – $499,000 “major deal” $500,000 and up FICTION Debut UK TV producer Jane Fallon’s GETTING RID OF MATTHEW, about a long-suffering […]