The Art of the Headline-Making Client Editors will want to save today’s Observer piece for a rainy day, as agent David Vigliano gives context to the pursuit by agents of headline makers such as recently released hostage/reporter Jill Carroll. “She’s very sympathetic, so I think there’ll be a very positive reaction to her book. You gotta differentiate between somebody who’s seen like a hero, like she is or [Charles] Moose is, and someone who’s notorious, like Jayson Blair or Jared Paul Stern. If a lot of people are offended by the person’s behavior, ultimately they’re not going to buy a […]

Drew to Retire, and More Personnel News Lisa Drew will retire from Scribner as of the end of June. Drew started her own imprint at what was Macmillan/Scribner in 1993. Her publishing career began in 1961 with a job as a “Gal Friday” (the actual name of her position) at Doubleday, where she worked for 23 years and rose to co-editorial director of the adult trade group. Drew remarks: “These last forty-five years have been incredibly rewarding, and I feel particularly lucky to have worked with some publishing giants-Ken McCormick, Sam Vaughan, Betty Prashker, Alan Williams, and Larry Hughes, chief […]

Today at 3 That’s when this year’s Pulitzer winners will be announced, including book awards in five categories. Prize administrator Sig Gissler tells Columbia’s Spectator they receive 1,000 book submissions annually. On the deliberations, Gissler says: “We talk about quality of writing, imagination, and if it is likely to be an enduring work… [The board] is open to imaginative, inventive work. Often the books are not on the best-seller list, and they’re not necessarily reflective of popular sentiment.” Spectator Turow to Try NYT Slot Scott Turow is the next bestselling author who will try to overcome overwhelming lack of interest […]

Monday, April 10 Advertisement DO SOMETHING IMPORTANT WITH YOUR SUMMER. Spend a week with other mid-career publishing professionals at the Stanford Professional Publishing Course (July 14-22). Make a difference to your organization by benchmarking your company against others in today’s fast-changing publishing landscape. This 9-day course is designed for mid-career professionals being groomed to take on broader responsibilities. Application deadline is May 1. publishingcourses.stanford.edu/sppc/ Our Usual Reminder If for some reason this has reached you even though you are not a paying member of PublishersMarketplace, please visit the link below to join us all the time for complete deal reports […]

Jesus the Bestseller Boston Globe columnist Alex Beam looks at the bestseller lists and observes, “Jesus Christ will be putting up big numbers. Five of the 15 entries on the upcoming fiction list owe their existence to our collective fascination with Christ and Christianity.… Over on the nonfiction list, the laughable Jesus Papers debuts at the No. 5 spot. Misquoting Jesus, a proto-academic howler, ranks No. 8, followed by the conversational Home with God at No. 10, and Garry Wills’s What Jesus Meant at No. 16.” Seaparately, a news piece in the Globe sports a fine picture of the “small […]

Cohen Leaving Bulfinch; LB and Warner Share Her Divisions Bulfinch Press publisher Jill Cohen “has made the decision to leave the company” at the end of April, and Hachette Book Group USA has made the decision to split her units between their two largest divisions. As of May, Bulfinch will become part of Little, Brown with executive editor Michael Sand reporting to LB editor-in-chief Geoff Shandler. Cohen’s other line, the recently-started Springboard Press, will become part of Warner Books, with editorial director Karen Murgolo reporting to Warner publisher Jamie Raab. Maureen Egen comments in the announcement, “Jill brought a vision […]