PEOPLE A relatively quiet month, personnel-wise: Peter Bernstein has taken a new position as Editor-in-Chief of the University Alliance for Life-Long Learning, an online venture of Oxford, Stanford, Princeton, and Yale Universities to develop distance learning courses. He had been working on an author website, AuthorByAuthor. . . . VP and Managing Director Scott Lubeck…Continue Reading
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
Dictators’ Desserts Trujillo’s Dominican Feast and Franco’s Fall in Spain, Plus Cremer Redux in Holland Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa conquers lists in both Spain and Argentina with The Goat’s Feast, a novel that’s captivated critics (it “makes one’s flesh creep,” one wrote admiringly) and has been hailed as a revival of Vargas Llosa’s best…Continue Reading
“You can’t get yourself on Oprah,” says Carol Fitzgerald of the Book Report Network, “but you can get yourself on the web.” And that’s the business plan in a nutshell of three new ventures — AuthorsOnTheWeb.com, PreviewPort.com, and YourNextBook.com — aiming to bring authors and audiences together on a browser near you. Without further ado,…Continue Reading
PEOPLE This month, the announcement of the millennium comes from Penguin Putnam, which has hired retired Commanding General Gilbert S. Harper of the US Army as VP for warehousing and fulfillment. Responsibilities in his previous life included “designing the Army’s next generation distribution architecture.” Industry watchers like the image of the soldier reporting to our…Continue Reading
PEOPLE A month into the naughts, let’s recap some recent moves: Greg Tobin leaves Ballantine after seven months as VP, Editor in Chief, to try his hand as a full time author. He has a two-book contract with St. Martin’s/Tor Books’ Tom Doherty. . . . Alun Davies, longtime head of BDD’s international division, moves…Continue Reading
