WOM’s The Word As Podcasts, Blogging, Buzz & Viral Go Mainstream Although the book publishing industry as a whole has yet to go viral in the way of blockbusters or burgers (Have you “crashed” the Wedding Crashers trailer or Had It Your Way with Burger King‘s Subservient Chicken?), many in the industry say they’re not…Continue Reading
Book-Banning Scare in Iran, Expats Unite in Turkey Despite having completed all of the normal and rigorous procedures required to get permission from the government, Arash Hejaz, the Iranian publisher of Paulo Coelho‘s latest international sensation, THE ZAHIR, was threatened and terrified last month by the authorities. The novel was the first foreign title to…Continue Reading
PEOPLE April began with the front page NYT story about Judith Regan’s move to LA – a story whose significance is still somewhat unclear. Then real news came of Scholastic‘s Barbara Marcus leaving in June and being succeeded by Disney‘s Lisa Holton. Changes at Rodale include the just announced resignation of Amy Rhodes, Publisher of…Continue Reading
PEN Draws Droves, Caruso in Siberia, Sie ist ein Berliner Who says Americans don’t love literature in translation? The jam-packed events surrounding the PEN World Voices Festival last month suggest that editors will be scrambling to find the next José Manuel Prieto or Adam Zagajewski faster than one can say cross-cultural-post-national-poly-lingual-extravaganza. Billed as “a confluence…Continue Reading
People The beginning of a new year seems to have prompted some early spring cleaning, with an unusual number of moves around the industry. The one that got the most attention was Sara Nelson’s move to PW as its new Editor-in-Chief, replacing Nora Rawlinson, who may be reached at norar@nyc.rr.com. Lee Boudreaux has left Random…Continue Reading
People Maureen O’Neal has left Ballantine and can be reached by email at mrnoneal@aol.com. Elizabeth Dyssegaard is also leaving at the end of the summer. Katherine Beitner to HarperCollins as Associate Publishing Director. She was Director of Publicity for Harmony and Shaye Areheart Books. In children’s books there is more movement: Last month Diana Blough…Continue Reading
PEOPLE CDS’ Stanley Cohen has taken a leave of absence and Steve Black has stepped in as Acting Sales Director. David Wilk, VP of Client Services and Business Development, has taken over some responsibilities and a new Client Services Manager, Kerry Liebling, has been hired. Erin McHugh has been named Director of Creative Services, Trade…Continue Reading
70,000-Odd Small Publishers Might Be Wagging Your Dog They’re out there — all 73,000 of them — scrabbling for your shelf-space, mucking up your mindshare. That’s the number of book publishers in the US, according to Bowker’s Books in Print database, and it has nearly doubled in the past decade. Blame the go-go ’90s, the…Continue Reading
PEOPLE Change is the constant in publishing at the moment: Bookspan cut its staff by about a dozen people, including longtimers Norm Schneider, VP Marketing, and Nancy Whitin, who oversaw the Specialty Clubs, including The Good Cook, History, Crafters, Country Homes, Military, Stage & Screen, Mystery Guild, etc. Natalie Chapman has been named VP, Publisher,…Continue Reading
This year Publishing Trends abandoned its vendor survey, because trying to rate players in the fulfillment and distribution arena was like trying to judge a warehouse full of Rube Goldberg contraptions — there are too many moving pieces, and they all move in different (some might say mysterious) ways. But one thing is certain: they…Continue Reading
