Dan Ehrenhaft has joined Harper Children’s fiction team as director of intellectual property development, developing and commissioning original projects primarily for the teen and tween market in both print as well as emerging digital formats. He was a senior editor at Sourcebooks, where he launched their teen imprint Sourcebooks Fire and acquired for Jabberwocky. Mary Anne Thompson Associates has been appointed the US literary scout for Croatian publisher Znanje. The ABA membership ratified the nominated officers and board members. Michael Tucker and Becky Anderson will serve second one-year terms as president and vce president, respectively. Sarah Bagby of Watermark Books […]
Now, A Major Crown Restructure: Areheart Books Eliminated, and Salvatore Exits
Random House’s Crown Publishing Group is reorganizing the sprawling division into “three major editorial areas” focused on “core strengths: general interest nonfiction and fiction; branded/category books; and four-color and lifestyle books,” announced yesterday. Crown itself and Broadway will come together to comprise the general interest trade line, with a search for a new executive underway. In the interim, the Crown and Broadway editors will report to recently-appointed Crown Group president Maya Mavjee. The Shaye Areheart Books imprint is being “discontinued” and Areheart will take the position of editor-at-large for Crown, where she will “edit authors with whom she has had […]
Bush In Washington Post, AP, and NYT Review
The pre-pub Laura Bush coverage continues. The Washington Post bought a copy locally, and shares more samples of the book than yesterday’s NYT report. “There is some startling stuff in here, perhaps more startling to me, who spent much of my time as a reporter covering Bush and as a writer researching her biography, searching for a shard or two of information that might reveal more about this intensely reticent and unassuming woman…. And there are some pointed choices and some unflinching honesty.” What isn’t in there? “In 432 pages, there are three brief mentions of Barack Obama.” The AP […]
People, etc.
Lara Lea Allen is joining Barer Literary as foreign rights director. She was sssociate director of foreign rights at Trident Media Group. Barer Literary’s UK rights will continue to be handled by Caspian Dennis at Abner Stein. Marissa Walsh has joined FinePrint Literary Management as a literary agent, focusing on children’s picture books, middle-grade and YA, along with pop culture, humor, narrative non-fiction, and memoir. Most recently she was an editor at Delacorte Press/Random House Children’s Books for seven years. Scott Turow was formally elected president of the Authors Guild, taking over from Roy Blount, who served for four years. […]
Awards: Sci-Fi, First Novel, and Edgars Ahead
China Mieville won the Arthur C Clarke sci-fi award for a record third time, for The City & the City. In Canada, Jessica Grant won the Amazon.ca First Novel Award for Come, Thou Tortoise (Knopf Canada). The WSJ considers tonight’s Edgar Awards, and notes after surveying past results that “winners at tonight’s annual Edgar Awards, presented by the Mystery Writers of America, should relish the victory–the first Edgar is often the last.” The only author to win both best first novel and best novel during their career is Ross Thomas.WSJ
Waterstone's Same-Store Decline "Improves" to -4.8 Percent
In a preliminary report of annual results, Waterstone’s parent HMW is claiming that bookstore sales are improving, with same-store sales for the 16-weeks ending April 24 down 4.8 percent–which is indeed better than the full-year same-store decline of 6.2 percent, and also an improvement over the poor Christmas holiday comp decline of 8.9 percent. Overall bookstore sales for the year are down 6 percent as well. It’s the second straight annual decline for the chain. Though they did not report actual figures today, based on last year’s numbers, sales will be down to approximately 515 million pounds for the year. […]