Macmillan Buys Audio Company Macmillan Audio (formerly Audio Renaissance) has acquired Language Dynamics, which creates “fast and easy to learn foreign language courses” and the Behind the Wheel line of instructional foreign language audiobooks. President of Language Dynamics Mark Frobose was represented by attorney Paul Levine and agent Peter Miller of PMA Literary and Film Management in the negotiations with Macmillan publisher Mary Beth Roche. Roche sees the acquisition as “ideal for both the traditional audiobook market as well as the new, exciting channels of distribution available to audiobook listeners.” Frobose will become editorial director of Macmillan Audio’s foreign language […]

First Man Asian Winner Jiang Rong, 62, won the first $10,000 Man Asian Literary Prize for WOLF TOTEM. Penguin China general manager Jo Lusby says, “He was completely unknown, this book came completely left field. Something in your gut… and publisher’s sensibility screams out, this is really unusual and there’s something that people have never seen from China.” Penguin Press will publish in the US on March 27. Reuters Penguin Will Sell at US Prices in Canada As “book rage” increases in Canada with local book prices looking higher and higher against the ever-plunging US dollar (now worth less the […]

The Key As usual, the handy key to our Lunch deal categories. While all reports are always welcome, those that include a category will generally receive a higher listing when it comes time to put them all together. “nice deal” $1 – $49,000 “very nice deal” $50,000 – $99,000 “good deal” $100,000 – $250,000 “significant deal” $251,000 – $499,000 “major deal” $500,000 and up Deal Reports Just e-mail to deals@PublishersMarketplace.com if you aren’t using the online form linked below. Report a deal using the online form   FICTION Debut Charles McCain’s SEA EAGLE: A Novel of the Kriegsmarine at War, […]

Coming December 1?: James Potter and the Hall of Elder’s Crossing A teaser web site is promoting the arrival of “James Potter and the Hall of Elder’s Crossing” with a countdown clock that says the hall opens December 1. Copy at the site says, “If you are here then you are a friend (or a friend’s friend) so welcome! The Hall will open soon and when it does you will need your password to enter.… I’ll occasionally be releasing a few preview tidbits so check back every now and again to see what’s coming. “Until then, keep the secret and […]

Sales Drop, Profits Plunge at Harper Profits fell 35 percent to $36 million at HarperCollins in their first quarter, as sales fell 10 percent to $330 million from $368 million a year ago. Acknowledging it as a “terrible” quarter, CEO Jane Friedman noted, “I would say we’ve probably not have a quarter this bad during my tenure.” (Our archives only go back about 5 years, and it’s certainly the lowest sales and profits for this particular period for Harper in that span of time.) Friedman attributes the drop to “two major parts of our business,” the UK — which “has […]

Elizabeth Hay Wins Giller The former broadcaster won Canada’s top fiction prize for her third novel, LATE NIGHTS ON AIR, about “the loves and rivalries of a cast of eccentric characters at a small radio station in Yellowknife, near Canada’s Arctic.” (Counterpoint has a US edition scheduled for next March.) Globe and Mail Review section editor Andrew Gorham called it the other day: “It feels like this is Hay’s moment because she has been building in our literary landscape with each book that she publishes.” Reuters Flew Responds Following blogoversy over the NYT Magazine article we cited yesterday, Harper One […]