Zondervan has hired Jason Vines from the auto business to serve as vp of public relations and communications. He previously held “top communications positions” at Nissan, Ford and Chrysler. Lucinda Blumenfeld writes to update the PT report we cited last week: As an agent at Fletcher & Co. she will represent narrative/prescriptive nonfiction, YA, and literary fiction. As marketing manager she is “developing marketing strategies and brand extensions for agency clients and scouting opportunities for writers within emerging technology, new media and social networking.” In the UK, former Century publishing director Mark Booth will join Hodder & Stoughton in September […]
UK Rumor On Bloomsbury Sale
Bloomsbury’s stock “experienced unusually strong volume on Tuesday amid talk that Pearson was considering a bid,” the Times of London claims. Both companies are sitting on cash and have lower share prices: Bloomsbury’s market cap of 95 million pounds is less than one times Potter-free sales and the company had 50 million pounds in cash before announcing their most recent acquisition. Pearson, meanwhile, is said to have 580 million pounds in cash. Their shares showed a little life today after declining for a few months.Times Bloomsbury’s latest targeted purchase is Hodder Education’s higher ed textbooks covering media and communications, history […]
Grisham to Write Spec Screenplay About Four Sailors Who Claim Were Wrongly Convicted
The novelist is working on a screenplay about Virginia’s Norfolk Four. “It’s the most egregious case of wrongful conviction I’ve seen, and I travel around the country listening to stories about these cases,” Grisham says. He expects to have a draft finished by the fall, but for now he is writing it on spec. Tom Wells and Richard Leo published a book on the case, THE WRONG GUYS: Murder, False Confessions, and the Norfolk Four, last November with the New Press. Grisham said he hoped the project would help the three imprisoned sailors. “You can’t forget about those guys. I’m […]
5,000-Word First Serial for Nabokov's Original of Laura to Playboy
The magazine won rights to the forthcoming unfinished novella after the New Yorker passed. Literary editor Amy Grace Lord says, “I’m happy to tell you we’ve never paid this much for a book excerpt before, ever.” She adds, “There are parts of it that are much more cohesive than others. But I found it fascinating in that way.”Observer
Bidness News: Springer Falls Short; RBI Dumps Travel Mags; Bertelsmann Gets Music Money from KKR
Second-round bids for a portion of Springer Science and Business Media are said to have fallen “signficantly short” of the target of 500 million euros for a stake of up to 49 percent. Owners Cinven and Candover are reported to have asked the bidders to try again, please. Reuters says “two of the sources said a valuation of 350 million to 380 million euros for a 49 percent stake was a reasonable estimate…. Proceeds would be used to tackle high looming debt payments Springer is unable to meet.”Reuters Meanwhile, after failing to sell RBI whole last year, Reed Elsevier is […]
People
At St. Martin’s, director of marketing and publishing operations/hardcover Matt Baldacci and marketing director/SMP paperbacks Anne Marie Tallberg have both been promoted to associate publisher for their respective divisions. Sally Richardson and Matthew Shear praise “their enormous contributions in sales and marketing that have so contributed to our growth and health. In their new roles, they will continue to work together and with others to further our publishing goals.” Leis Pederson has been promoted to associate editor for the Berkley publishing group. Ruth Katcher has joined Egmont USA as editor-at-large. Most recently she was an executive editor at Harper Children’s. […]