News and opinion on the changing world of book publishing
February 2011
PEOPLE As widely reported over the last month, while BN.com staffs up, layoffs continue at both Barnes & Noble and Borders. About 40 people were let go from Barnes & Noble recently, including Bob Wietrak, Lee Stern, Marcella Smith, Mo Stewart, and buyers Dan Mayer, Dave Hathaway, and Kim Corradini. At Borders, just after New [...]
{ 0 comments }
May 2010
Take a look at BookScan’s bestselling juvenile titles for the week ending April 25: an astounding 73% were titles from one of several series. But these are not your Baby-Sitters’ Club of yesteryear: “Harry Potter turned the whole paperback series notion on its head,” says Megan Tingley, SVP, Publisher, Little Brown Books for Young Readers. [...]
{ 5 comments }
December 2009
PEOPLE ROUNDUP Madeline McIntosh has returned to Random House in the newly created position of President, Sales, Operations, and Digital. Her direct reports include Andrew Weber, SVP, Ops & Technology; Jaci Updike, SVP, Director, Random House Adult Sales; Joan DeMayo, SVP, Director, Children’s Sales and Director, Special Markets Sales; and Bonnie Ammer, EVP, International Sales. [...]
{ 0 comments }
May 2009
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 [...]
{ 1 comment }
Laura Hazard Owen | August 2008
Anyone who saw (or was) an adult reading Harry Potter on the subway knows that the line between books for grownups and books for children has become increasingly blurred. And despite time devoted to the discussion (see the recent New York Times Book Review essay “I’m Y.A. and I’m O.K”) and celebrity authors writing the [...]
{ 2 comments }
Laura Hazard Owen | June 2008
Ah, the life of a California literary agent. Client meetings on the terrace overlooking the cliffs, the sound of aquamarine waves crashing on sparkling white sand as a lovely soundtrack to the discussion of character development. Later on, a quick spin in the cute red hybrid convertible over to a movie studio or five, promising [...]
{ 0 comments }
October 2006
PEOPLE David Nudo has left The NYT where he was Managing Director of book advertising to become Publisher of Publishers Weekly assuming overall business and editorial responsibility for the magazine. Nudo had earlier worked at Library Journal. PW Editor-in-Chief Sara Nelson tells PT “I am thrilled to have someone of David’s talent and experience as [...]
{ 0 comments }
September 2006
Publishers Brandish New Models to Support Authors: Joint-, Co-, & Assisted Self-Publishing When Arthur Klebanoff began shopping around longtime BBDO CEO Allen Rosenshine’s book Funny Business a few years ago, nobody bit. Rather than a straight how-to-succeed-in-business type of book, Rosenshine had written an anecdotal memoir about his experiences in the ad industry. “Here was [...]
{ 0 comments }
February 2006
Rarely a week goes by without a PW or Publishers Lunch announcement of a newly formed, merged or expanded literary agency. Larry Kirshbaum‘s well-publicized move from TWBG to form LJK Literary Management last fall drew attention to publishers-turned-agents, and both Gawker and MediaBistro consistently blog about who’s merging with whom to spawn the newest so-called [...]
{ 0 comments }
April 2004
Youths Kick-Start Japanese Market, China Makes the Grade, French Teacher Explores Afterlife When 19-year-old Hitomi Kanehara and 20-year-old Risa Wataya recently became the youngest authors ever to win the coveted Akutagawa Prize (which helped launch the careers of greats like Kenzaburo Oe and Ryu Murakami), the Japanese literary scene received just the spark it needed [...]
{ 0 comments }
