The Latest Truism: A Good Publicist Is Hard to Find Judging by reports of empty cubicles in publicity departments at several large publishing houses, it seems the latest truism in the book biz is this: a good publicist is hard to find. While entry-level publicity jobs have always had precipitous burn-out rates, it seems that…Continue Reading
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Tagged Basic Books, Carol Schneider, Caroline O'Connell, Diane Mancher, Hearst Books, Jacqueline Deval, Marian Brown, Morrow, One Potata Producations, Pamela Dueval, Pocket, Random House, S&S, St. Martin's
More Reprints, More Often Put Publishers In a Bind Like many small and not-so-small publishing houses this year, Steerforth Press has done its share of begging. With printers, that is. Print capacity is so scarce, according to publisher Chip Fleischer, that trying to get books delivered on time is like contending with a creeping flight…Continue Reading
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Tagged Barnes & Noble, Book-mart Press, Chip Fleischer, CIROBE, Courier Corp, Daedalus Books, Donnelley, Edwards Brothers, Fred Eisenhart, FSG, George Gibson, HarperCollins, Harry Potter, Hyperion, John Edwards, John Vitale, Laurie Brown, Linda Prather, Marshall Smith, Michelle Gluckow, Peter Robin, Quebecor, Ron Weir, Siegel/Sussman Associates, Simon & Schuster, Steerforth Press, Steven Sussman, Tamara Stock, Tim McGuire, Walker
Beat the Devil Coelho Back in Brazil, Mortier in the Netherlands, And Pleijel Shakes Up Sweden Brazilian high priest of letters Paulo Coelho has conjured up The Devil and Miss Prym after two years of soul searching, and the result is a half-million-copy catechism that’s been deemed a “parable in which the characters show all…Continue Reading
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Tagged Ageneta Pleijel, Agneta Markas, Annika Balser, April Witch, Bertelsmann, Camille Laurens, Christian Signol, Compiani, De Geus, Destino, Diogenes, Ediciones Salamandra, Elke Heidenreich, Emece Editores Spain, Erwin Mortier, Forum, Freddy Germanos, French Publishers' Agency, Gerda van Boom, Great National Book Award, Gyldendal, Harper, Harvill, He Who Observeth the Wind, In These Arms, Inga-Britt Rova, Judas' Wonderful Kiss, Kastaniotis, Lindhardt & Ringhof, Lord Nevermore, Maira Papathanassopoulou, Majgull Axelsson, Marcel, Meulenhoff, Monica Antunes, Mother's Lover, My Second Skin, Nikos, Norstedts, Objetiva, Patakis Publications, Paulo Coelho, Pauvert, Pedro del Carril, Pergaminho, Piper, Plon, Prisma, Prix Goncourt, Random House, Random Walk, Sant Jordi Asociados, Secker & Warburg, Sigrid Kraus, Sophie Catris, Suhrkamp, The 13 1/2 Lives of Capt'n Bluebear, The Alchemist, The Devil and Miss Prym, The Object, The Toxic Compounds of Arsenic, Thus Does Man Live, Urs Widmer, Van der Hoogt, Walter Moers, Werner Soderstrom, White Christmases, Zachariadis
Nick Webb, MD Europe for Rightscenter.com, serves up an author’s-eye view of Frankfurt in this dispatch, which will appear in a longer article in the journal of the Society of Authors. If you’re one of those authors who secretly feels low after nipping into Waterstones and seeing the sheer variety of books jostling for shelf…Continue Reading
The prognosis for global clicks-and-mortar convergence was rather dire at the 83rd Direct Marketing Association annual conference — which is saying something, considering that this was where e-commerce and one-to-one marketing gurus had gathered to assess the state-of-the-art in web-based consumerism. Officially, of course, conferees boasted about the soon-to-be billion Internet users, and celebrated “The…Continue Reading
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Tagged Bigwords, Bloomingdale's, Christopher Locke, Direct Marketing Association, Federated, Fingerhut, H. Robert Wientzen, ICQ, John Tate, Krispy Kreme, Macy's, Otis Maxwell, The Cluetrain Manifesto, Varsity Group, VarsityBooks, Wal-Mart, Williams-Sonoma
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AT INSIDE.COM (11/6/00) Shrewd advocate or two-faced monster? That’s the question currently confronting literary agents, as they depart from their traditional role as authors’ representatives and leap into the bracing — and perhaps perilous — world of electronic publishing. ”We’ve gone into it with both feet and over our hairline,” says Richard Curtis,…Continue Reading
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Tagged Arthur Klebanoff, Bedford Book Works, e-reads, Harlan Ellison, Joel Fishman, Lynn Chu, Richard Curtis, RosettaBooks, Scott Meredith Literary Agency, Subrights.com, Todd Shuster, Writers' Representatives
Reports from Regional Trade Shows Synchronicity was the unofficial theme for the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association’s annual fall conference, which returned to Portland on Sept. 15 – 17 after a three-year hiatus. At the show’s “Celebration of Authors,” for example, the self-deprecating Elwood Reid recounted his strange long trip from life as a “big dumb…Continue Reading
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Tagged ABA, B&N, Bookland of Maine, Booksense, Borders, Carole Horne, David Godine, Doubleday, Elwood Reid, Graphic Arts, Harvard Book Store, Jim Harris, Karl Pohrt, Lauriat's, Learningsmith, Marc Seagar, Marcella Smith, Midnight Sun, New England Booksellers Association, Noel Pasco, Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, Rusty Drugan, Saul Gilman, Seamus Heaney, The Shaman Drum, Waterstones
Want a Williams-Sonoma Cookbook to Go With That $379 Toaster? No retailer engenders guilty pleasure quite like Williams-Sonoma, the high-end purveyor of “home-centered” furnishings. Universally known for its $159 bottles of balsamic vinegar (“a unique viscosity and sumptuous flavor”) and $379 toasters (“this versatile appliance can also toast a sandwich”), Williams-Sonoma has invented a whole…Continue Reading
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Tagged AOL Time Warner, Barnes & Noble, Chambers, Chuck Williams, Fog City Press, Hold Everything, John Brown Publishing, John Fahey, John Owen, National Geographic Society, Norman Kolpas, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, Potterybarn.com, Susan Maruyama, Terry Newell, The Body Shop, The Hive Group, The Mayo Clinic Williams-Sonoma Cookbook, Time Life, Weldon Owen Publishing, Williams-Sonoma, Williams-Sonoma Risotto, Williams-Sonoma Taste, Williams-Sonoma.com
Frankfurt Forecast St. Martin’s ‘Starting Over,’ Harcourt’s ‘Algorithm,’ Plus Hansel and Gretel in Germany When the Buchmesse opens its doors on October 18, what are Sub. Rights Directors planning to pull out of their book bags as they cozy up to editors from Europe and beyond? Herewith, a sampling from some of the major players:…Continue Reading
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Tagged A Hole in the Universe, A Man's Journey to Simple Abundance, Albert Speer, Alice Randall, Amelie Nothomb, Amir Aczel, An Ocean Apart, Aristotle's Children, Benedict Spinoza, Bob Woodward, Brenda Segel, Carol Higgins Clark, Daniel Schacter, Dava Sobel, Deck the Halls, Don Brownlee, Ecco Press, Eminem, Eric Lax, fen Montaigne, Fermat's Last Theorem, Fred Reiken, Frederic Beigheder, Free Press, Frida Strindberg, Gail Tsukiyama, George V. Higgins, Harcourt, HarperCollins, Harvey Seifter, Houghton Mifflin, Ian Tattersall, Jack Lemmon, Jack Macrae, Jacquelyn Mitchard, James Brady, Jane Goodall, Jimmy Carter, Just for Fun, K.C. Cole, Kathy Reich, Kissinger, Linus Torvalds, Lost Legends of New Jersey, Lynn Schooler, Mark Beckoff, Mark Danner, Mary Higgins Clark, Metropolitan Book, Miramax, My Father's Daughter, New Directions, Oliver Sacks, On The Night Plain, Peter Duffy, Peter Economy, Peter Ward, Richard Rubenstein, Robin Pilcher, S&S, Sarah Ban Breathnach, Scott Ventrella, Scribner, St. Martin's, Stan Williams, Starting Over, Stephen Ambrose, Stephen Cannell, Surviving Galeras, The Advent of the Algorithm, The Artist's Wife, The Blue Bear, The Brothers Bielsky, The Ends of the World, The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat, The Monkey in the Mirror, The New Yorker, The Power of Positive Thinking in Business, The Riddle of the Compass, The Seven Sins of Memory, The Tin Collector, The Wind Done Gone, Times Books, Tina Sinatra, Warning of the War
As if your fall calendar wasn’t already jam-packed, along comes a batch of Internet-related conferences and panels. Herewith we report on one recent event, and preview several still to come. First, a cross section of Internet, media, and (broadly defined) educators gathered at Columbia University to address the issues facing the intersection of these markets,…Continue Reading
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Tagged AAP, Ann Kirschner, Brill's Content, Columbia University, Contentville.com, Corbis, e-Book World, ePubExpo, Fathom.com, Guggenheim, Hermitage, Holtzbrinck, IDG, Inside.com, Interactive Knowledge, Internet Content East 2000, iUniverse, Jason Epstein, Jill Campbell, John Feldkamp, John Sargent, Jon Karp, Jon Kilcullen, Jupiter Research, Larry Kirshbaum, Maggie Canon, Martin Nisenholtz, Michael Wolff, Mighty Words, Napster, NYT Digital, NYTBR, Penton Media, Reed, Richard Sarnoff, Richard Tam, Robert Fram, Steve Brill, Steve Davis, The New Yorker, Thomas Krens, Wiley, Will Pesce, Wired, Xlibris
