At Goldberg McDuffie Communications, Kathleen Carter has been promoted to senior publicist and Liza Lucas has been promoted to publicist. In the UK, David & Charles has named Stephen Bateman as managing director and publisher, starting in mid-August. He has been working for France, and set up DK’s children’s division there. David & Charles’ UK operation has previously been run out of F+W’s US office.
Zell Aide on Book Pages
“Heard a conversation about how Book reporting doesn’t generate revenue and may have to go away. WAIT! Maybe Book reviews and coverage are one of those things that don’t generate revenue right now, BUT–are trademarks for newspapers and elicit high passion from readers. At XM, we had Opera channels. Low listenership…HIGH passion…AND–it was one of those things that even if people didn’t listen or even like Opera, it was one of those things you had to have for completeness. Maybe Book sections in newspapers are just dated. Not the idea…but the look and feel. Maybe they’re modeled after a book […]
Softplay Buys Kidsbooks
Privately-owned Chicago-based Softplay, a marketer of interactive books and related toys, has purchased Boston children’s book publisher Kidsbooks, on undisclosed terms. Playthings
Sittenfeld's Provocative "American Wife"
Radar has excerpts from Curtis Sittenfeld’s forthcoming novel AMERICAN WIFE, “a thinly veiled novel based on Laura Bush’s life that is sure to send the White House into a fury” as it “mingles real facts and incidents with the author’s imaginative, fanciful, sometimes sexually charged musings. The result is a masterful highbrow-lowbrow mash-up that satisfies as ass-kicking literary fiction and juicy gossip simultaneously.” A number of short excerpts are posted. Radar
Holtzbrinck and Thalia Eye Weltbild Acquisition
Germany’s newspapers FAZ and Handelsblatt report that both Holztbrinck and the Thalia book chain are interested in bidding to buy the Weltbild publishing group. Holtzbrinck and Thalia currently own Netherlands-based online book distributor bol.com and publisher Droemer Knaur together. Thomson reports, “Weltbild said over the weekend that it wants to change and expand its structure but that there are no plans to break up nor sell its units.” Holtzbrinck deputy md Jochen Gutbrod acknowledged his company’s potential interest; Thalia did not comment. Thomson Financial
Enthusiasm at Brazil Literary Festival
Reuters reports on the latest Paraty Literary Festival–founded six years ago by the UK’s Liz Calder–which has “helped transform the town about halfway between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo into a trendy destination and given Brazil a spot on the international literary circuit.” Reuters