* “Live from Prairie Lights,” the Iowa Public Radio show typically taped at Prairie Lights bookstore, will come to an end after an 18 year run, with the final show airing in December. Interim executive director of Iowa Public Radio Steve Carignan says the show has “a very loyal but very small audience.” In the Press-Citizen newspaper, co-owner of the store Jim Harris “said the program is part of Iowa City culture and said the news was disappointing” but “does not come as a surprise. He said that when the program was switched from being broadcast live to Saturdays, the […]
People: RH Promotions; Greeley Hurt in Fall; FBI Followed Halberstam
Kim Hovey has been named associate publisher of Random House Trade Paperbacks, reporting to Jane von Mehren in that postion, while continuing to report to Libby McGuire as associate publisher of Ballantine. Sanyu Dillon now oversees the marketing/advertising/promotion efforts and staff for the entire Random House Publishing Group as director of marketing, continuing to report to deputy publisher Tom Pery. Novelist Revered Andrew Greeley, 80, is reported by the Chicago Sun-Times as in critical condition after fracturing his skull following a fall. Students at CUNY’s graduate school of journalism have obtained 62 pages of the FBI’s 98-page file on the […]
Countdown to Palin Proposal
“No matter what it is, the betting is she’ll sign a deal by the end of the month,” a publishing source tells Page Six. The big talent and literary agencies are all courting, and publishers are ready to bid. Random House’s Stuart Applebaum says, “There are several of our imprints who are eager to talk to Governor Palin. She clearly has a constituency and we know books by conservatively-centered politicos usually sell very, very well.”
The Internet vs. Books
That’s the theme of an essay by Beau Friedlander in the LA Times, in which he concludes, “the instant knowledge provided by the Web is invaluable, as is the deeper communion provided by books.” In part: Books require a different sort of communion with one’s subject than the Internet. They foster a different sort of memory — more tactile, more participatory. I know more or less where, folio-wise, Eliot gets nasty about the Jews in his infamous 1933 lecture series After Strange Gods, but I always have to read around a bit to find the exact quote, and the time […]
The Book on Obama Victory
Barack Obama’s electoral triumph was the best thing to happen to demand for printed newspapers in years–and now Andrews McMeel will publish the Poynter Foundation’s collection of 75 front pages from newspapers around the country.Poynter
Seven Candles
We’re always a little bit surprised this time of year when the anniversary of the creation of PublishersMarketplace.com comes around again, as we now celebrate seven years of service. As you know, most of the time we’re entirely focused on what we’re going to do next rather than what we’ve already accomplished. Since we spend so much time reporting on other company’s quarterly and annual results, this year we thought we would offer you an “annual report” on the activity in our world: FeaturesSeven years ago we naively pledged to take our site’s modest beginnings and continue to add to […]