Janson-Smith “Tempted” Back to Publishing After a short walk on the agenting side, Patrick Janson-Smith is joining Harper UK to launch a new commercial imprint, Blue Door, “focusing primarily on fiction.” Part of Press Books, he will report to managing director John Bond. Janson-Smith remarks, “Being given one’s own imprint is not only a great honor, it’s also a challenge; one to which I have every intention of rising.” He was publisher of the UK’s Transworld from 1981 to 2005, when he left to join the Christopher Little Agency — which he departed last year November, initially to form his […]

Another Boss Quits Pan Macmillan managing director David North is leaving at the end of this week after eight years with the company. He remarks: “I leave the company in great strength coming off the back of a record sales year and a strong first quarter performance. Pan Macmillan is set for an exciting future and I wish them every success.” The company quickly named former Penguin UK executive Anthony Forbes Watson as interim managing director, starting May 1. Macmillan ceo Annette Thomas he “will create a stable and smooth transition period until a permanent appointment is made.” More Personnel […]

Pulitzers In case you haven’t seen the full list: Fiction The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz History What Hath God Wrought: the Transformation of America, 1815-1848, by Daniel Walker Howe Biography Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father, by John Matteson Poetry Time and Materials, by Robert Hass and Failure, by Philip Schultz General Nonfiction The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945, by Saul Friedlander Tracy Letts won the drama prize for August: Osage County and Bob Dylan was given a special citation in music. Personnel News and Announcements Following […]

Loan Shark Improves Borders Deal, but Basically Sets October Date for Resolution Borders announced that they negotiated a slightly better financing deal with major shareholder Pershing Square for their $42.5 million term loan. Pershing will get 9.8 percent interest (instead of 12.5 percent), and it appears that they reduced the guaranteed number of stock warrants Pershing Square will receive by about a third, down to 9.55 million warrants from the original promise of 14.7 million warrants. Look at the finer print, though, and Pershing Square is practically ensured getting those extra 5.15 million warrants. They receive them if “a definitive […]

More on Miller Bob Miller’s new experimental start-up with HarperCollins took shape quickly after a casual discussion over drinks with Harper ceo Jane Friedman at the end of February. Miller says that he was “feeling restless and didn’t know what next mountain to climb” and was “talking about my frustration with the paradigms in this business.” He explained to Friedman how we would theoretically “do it all over again” and she encouraged him to put that plan into action. “I realized this was my time,” Miller says. On some of the specific intentions of the new line, a 50/50 profit […]