We made it through the first full day of BEA in one piece. Here are our notes. Were there, as we reported last month, cost-cutting strategies in effect? Looks like it, yup. Random House‘s booth is tiny, with no galleys, no tote bags, and hardly any catalogs. Most of the other large publishers’ spaces are intact, with plush…Continue Reading
The afternoon panels and presentations at yesterday’s International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) Digital Book 2009 were filled with promises of impending hardware and software innovations. Sony Director of Business Development Bob Nell talked about the number of outlets that will be selling the Sony Reader next Christmas–6,000, which is double last year’s number–and hinted that…Continue Reading
Would you rather read a “splendid, funny, lyrical book about family, truth, memory, and the resilience of love” or a “powerful novel” about “the strength of love and loss, the searing ramifications of war, and the mysterious, almost magical bonds that unite and sustain us”? A “poignant celebration of the potency of familial love” or…Continue Reading
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Tagged bestsellers, book consumers, book sales, book shoppers, Codex Group, David Baldacci, Early Read Book Preview, editorial assistants, First Family, flap copy, Grand Central Publishing, jacket copy, literary fiction, Mitch Hoffman, Peter Hildick-Smith, Publishers Weekly, women's fiction
PEOPLE ROUNDUP Broadway’s Editor-in-Chief Stacy Creamer will join Simon & Schuster as VP and Publisher of Touchstone Fireside, reporting to Free Press Publisher Martha Levin. The two lines “will have independently functioning editorial and publishing staffs,” according to the announcement….Current T/F Publisher Mark Gompertz takes on the new role of EVP, Digital Publishing. He and…Continue Reading
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Tagged ABA, AK Press, American Booksellers Association, Amy Scholder, Angharad Kowal, Anthony Bozza, Avin Domnitz, Ballantine, Bantam/Dell, Beth Ineson, BISG, Book Industry Study Group, Books Inc., Broadway, Candlewick Press, Carolyn Reidy, Carolyn Schwartz, Carrie Kania, Chanticleer, Chronicle, comScore, Courier, David Levithan, David Vigliano, Deborah Brodie, Deonne Kahler, Digital Publishing, Doubleday, Dover Publications, Drew Stevens, Eden Street, Ellie Hirschhorn, Endeavor, Feminist Press, Free Press, French-American Foundation, Geert Mak, General Society of Mechanics & Tradesmen, Gretchen Koss, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Ian Buruma, Igniter, Ira Silverberg, Jeanann Pannasch, John Mendelson, Josh Harwood, Justin Hargett, Karin Taylor, Kathy Warren, Kirchoff Wohlberg, Kirsten Neuhaus, Knopf, Leah Schnelbach, Leonard S. Marcus, Liza Pulitzer Voges, Lloyd Jassin, Lorna Owen, Mark Gompertz, Martha Levin, Matthew Lore, Meghan Walker, Michael Harriot, Michael Healy, Michael Tucker, Nan A. Talese, Nancy Grubb, Neil Strauss, New School, New York Center for Independent Publishing, New York Observer, Ohio University Press, Oren Teicher, Other Press, Oxford University Press, PEN World Voices, Peter Burri, Phaidon, Pocket Books, Rachael Rakes, Random House, RHPG, Richard Abate, Richard Gallen, Russell Shorto, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates, Sanyu Dillon, Sarah Reidy, Scholastic, Sellers Publications, Simon & Schuster, Simon Spotlight Entertainment, Soho Press, Spiegel & Grau, Stacy Creamer, Stanford Professional Publishing Course, Sterling, Sy Sumg, Tandem Literary, The Experiment, Tor, Touchstone Fireside, vertical ad networks, Vigliano Associates, William Morris, Writers House, Writers House UK
We chose three titles to be included in the Codex Group jacket copy survey. One was Come Sunday, which will be published in June by Sarah Crichton Books/FSG. Though Come Sunday had the weakest title and cover impact of the three books we tested, the added appeal of its jacket copy made it the book…Continue Reading
“Writing the jacket copy for Come Sunday was agony! Here were the challenges: An unknown author; the plot hinges on the fact that a little girl dies in the first chapter, a fact which can drive away the very audience we’re trying to attract, and which might make the book sound like a downer when…Continue Reading
Last fall, BookExpo America formed its first-ever Conference Advisory Board and decided to increase the show’s focus on content and programming. “In the past, we had too many sessions that were all over the map and that were trying to be all things to all people,” says Courtney Muller, Group Vice President of BEA. In…Continue Reading
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Tagged ARCs, BEA, BookExpo America, Bookreporter.com, Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, Carol Fitzgerald, Courtney Muller, DC Comics, ForeWord Magazine, Globe Pequot, HoughtonMifflin Harcourt, John Irving, Kensington, Lance Fensterman, Macmillan, Melville House, National Geographic, Neil Strandberg, Pat Conroy, Perseus, Rodale, Shambhala, Taschen, Tattered Cover, YA
PT thanks The Licensing Letter’s Ira Mayer for his reporting. Visiting the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in March after an absence of a dozen or so years was a wonderful reminder of how vibrant an art form children’s books are. While the children’s book market is dominated by name brands (Disney, Marvel, Nickelodeon, etc., as…Continue Reading
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Tagged 39 Clues, art, Berenstein Bears, Bologna Children's Book Fair, Bratz, Cartoon Network, children's, Chorion, Dark Horse, DC, Disney, Dr. Seuss, Dragon Ball Z, Edizioni Play Press, Egmont, Hasbro, HIT, Horrible Histories, Hyperion, Ira Mayer, Kellogg, Kids Licensing Forum, licensing, Lisa Edwards, Marvel, Mattel, Maurice Sendak, multimedia, Nickelodeon, Paragon, Plus Licens, Publications International, RAI, Rainbow, Ripley, Scholastic UK, Sesame, Sterling India, The Licensing Letter, United Media, Warner
Despite its sale by the Bertelsmann Group to Najafi Companies last year, Bookspan’s 21 book clubs (including Book-of-the-Month Club, Doubleday Book Club, Quality Paperback Club, and Literary Guild) still exist. Given the company’s tumultuous past few years, how has it held up? (For news on other book clubs, click here.) Numbers don’t mean everything, but…Continue Reading