Publishers Lunch: June 22, 2008 - June 28, 2008 Archive

Reeve, Gravett Take Big UK Children's Prizes
Philip Reeve won the prestigious Carnegie Medal for HERE LIES ARTHUR. The judges called it "both a page-turning adventure story and a clever historical novel. It also has clear political resonance for our times, demonstrating humanity's need to sustain hope and optimism, and our tendency to favour myth over reality to achieve that end."
 
And for the second time in three years, illustrator Emily Gravett has won the Kate Greenaway Medal, this time for LITTLE MOUSE'S BIG BOOK OF FEARS.
Release

Rapper Sets Up Imprint
Rapper KRS-One is creating an I Am Hip Hop imprint with powerHouse Books that will launch in spring 2009 with his own THE TEACHA'S GOSPEL OF HIP-HOP, "a 600-page manifesto documenting the genre's core tenets laid out like, what else, a Bible." The announcement says the line will "publish work of a number of different types with photography, philosophy and novels among them" and "serve as a home for cutting-edge, positive material related to the true culture and philosophies of Hip Hop."

The Most News That the Business Uses
Every day, we gather, report, recap and interpret the most publishing news, deal transactions, and job offers anywhere. Today's Lunch Deluxe includes these additional stories and links:

• Prototype of "Flippable" eBook Reader
• e-ISBNs: One Or Many?
• Self-Publishing for Kids, Too
• Cage, Brosnan Cast for Robert Harris The Ghost Film
• Rushie Knighthood Conferred
• Reed Business Information Sale Delayed for Financing Package

PublishersMarketplace.com always features all of the unique data and tools that drive business every day: Unlimited access to deals, our new Top Dealmakers (with 180 lists of busy agents, agencies, editors and imprints) live contacts, our representation database, comprehensive coverage of reviews and bestseller lists from all over, special tools ranging from the Book Tracker to Amazoom, our custom publishing search
index, and the new top reviewers tables.
 
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Personnel News
Taunton Press has hired Janine Scolpino as svp, enthusiast group and consumer marketing.

Starbucks Pulls Back on Music
Following the reorganization of Starbucks Entertainment announced in April, the New York Post reports that the coffee chain will reduce the number of music cds sold in their outlets from "upward of a dozen to just four." They add that "CD racks currently deployed in more than 6,500 Starbucks locations in the US and Canada will be removed in September."
 
A spokesperson tells the paper, "By focusing our CD offerings on a hand-selected group of no more than four titles at a time, we will be able to build on our trusted curatorial voice and tell a story with each title we recommend to our customers." The focus will be on "fewer, more relevant titles."
NYP
 

More New Jobs
We've added another 8 more new jobs to our industry-leading Job Board since yesterday if you haven't checked in, the latest among almost 120 listings in all still live from the past month.
 
For employers, we provide the unbeatable combination of the largest circulation in the business by far, a total focus on book publishing only, and the best prices anywhere.
 
And for job-seekers, we present great new possibilities every day and conveniences like an RSS ping to keep you posted on every new offering. Among the latest:
 
Associate Marketing Manager - Crown  [Full Time]
Random House (New York, NY)
 
Manager, Content Creation Support  [Full Time]
New York Publisher (New York, NY)
 
Marketing Director for McGraw-Hill Education  [Full Time]
The McGraw-Hill Companies (New York, NY)
 
Senior Production Editor  [Full Time]
LearningExpress, LLC (New York, NY)
 
Mail Order Sales Manager/Assistant Manager  [Full Time]
Workman Publishing (New York, NY)
 
Promotion Manager  [Full Time]
Workman Publishing (New York, NY)
 
Editorial Director - Crown  [Full Time]
Random House (New York, NY)
 
Production Editor  [Full Time]
Hachette Book Group USA (New York, NY)
 
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Please Note
We have resumed the process of testing and switching over to a new e-mail delivery system for the daily and weekly Lunches. Over the next couple of days, you may receive multiple copies (from the new and old systems) to ensure delivery.
 
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New Book in Poland Claims Walesa Was Communist Informer
A book released in Poland on Monday by historians Slawomir Cenckiewicz and Piotr Gontarczyk claims to offer evidence that political leader and Nobel laureate Lech Walesa was an informant for the country's secret service in the 70s. Co-author Gontarczyk said in an interview, "Life is complicated sometimes. He was a young deckhand then."
 
A German newspaper says Walesa "has denied the allegations and called the institute's authors 'fanatics' with libellous claims. He has threatened legal action and said he will soon release his own book to tell his side of the story." The paper notes that "during his presidency in 2000, Walesa won a court ruling that said he was not a spy. But opponents, including Polish President Lech Kaczynski, say they know he had worked for communists.
Deutsche Welle

Chronicling the Losses at PFD
A financial statement from former PFD parent company CSS Stellar indicates that the company took a 6 million pound writedown on the value of the literary agency following the departure of nearly all of the agents to form United Agents. The Bookseller reports that it also confirms that a lawsuit against former directors (now working at United Agents) seeks 853,000 pounds. True to form, the geniuses running the place made a provision in their 2007 results of over 500,000 pounds to cover anticipated legal costs.
 
PFD generated 9.5 million pounds in revenue in fiscal 2007, with operating profit of just 400,000 pounds.
Bookseller

Joint Venture to Provide Online Slices of Academic Books
The University of Chicago Press's Chicago Distribution Center has signed with  technology provider Tizra to allow distributed publishers to sell subscriptions to online books. The joint venture will begin this summer in a pilot program with the University of Chicago Press itself and others, and will use the services of their Bibliovault digital repository.

Personnel News
Rick Wolff has been promoted to publisher and editor in chief of Hachette Book Group USA's Business Plus, while continuing to serve as executive editor at Grand Central Publishing.
 
At Penguin Children's, Felicia Frazier has been hired as svp, director of sales. Most recently she was vp, sales director for the national accounts, brand & category management team at Random House Children's.
 
At Princeton University Press, Anne Savarese has been promoted to executive editor, and Rob Tempio and Hanne Winarsky both are moving up to senior editor."
 
At McGraw-Hill, Kenya Henderson has been promoted to senior publicist, Nicole LeBlanc has been promoted to senior marketing manager, and Heather Cooper has been promoted to associate marketing manager.
 

More New Jobs
In another big day, we added 11 more new jobs to our industry-leading Job Board yesterday, the latest among about 110 listings in all still live from the past month.
 
For employers, we provide the unbeatable combination of the largest circulation in the business by far, a total focus on book publishing only, and the best prices anywhere.
 
And for job-seekers, we present great new possibilities every day and conveniences like an RSS ping to keep you posted on every new offering. Among the latest:
 
Business/Financial Analyst  [Full Time]
Random House (New York, NY)
 
Web Customer Support Specialist  [Full Time]
Springer Science + Business Media (Secaucus, NJ)
 
Online Media Manager - Crown  [Full Time]
Random House (New York, NY)
 
Junior Designer  [Full Time]
St. Martin's Press (New York, NY)
 
Online Marketing Manager  [Full Time]
HarperCollins Publishers (New York, NY)
 
Proofreader/Writer  [Through November 4, 2008]
Mission Control (Mansfield, CT)
 
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Grogan Returns
Author of the bestselling Marley & Me John Grogan's new memoir, THE LONGEST TRIP HOME, has been announced for publication on October 21 by William Morrow. "From his troublemaking childhood to his courtship of a fiery blond named Jenny, Grogan writes about how he came to terms with who he is and what he believes." It's called the "story of a son in the making, and of growing up in a loving, but comically old-school Catholic family."
 
Grogan says in the announcement, "Even before Marley & Me was published, I knew this was the story I wanted to tell next. The Longest Trip Home is a story very close to my heart."
 
He'll promote his children's book A Very Marley Christmas, releasing September 30, while touring for the new memoir, and the film version of Marley (starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston) is set for release on Christmas day.

Bids Begin for Paperchase
Private equity player Luke Johnson at Risk Capital Partners, "buyer" of Borders UK, is rumored to have bid for Border's Paperchase unit -- though the rumor has his 40 million pound bid well below the price sought. A UK retail trade publication notes that "Paperchase operates 40 percent of its outlets as concessions within Borders UK stores, so a deal without Mr. Johnson seems unlikely." But WH Smith is among others thought to have offered.
UK story

BN Boosts Canin
Barnes & Noble has selected Ethan Canin's AMERICA AMERICA as their next BN Recommends program pick. The book goes on sale tomorrow, June 24.
Release

The Most News That the Business Uses
Every day, we gather, report, recap and interpret the most publishing news, deal transactions, and job offers anywhere. Today's Lunch Deluxe includes these additional stories and links:

• S&S Picks LibreDigital
• Farewell to Audiotape
• NYT Last to Cover The Shack
• Copyrights Records Database

PublishersMarketplace.com always features all of the unique data and tools that drive business every day: Unlimited access to deals, our new Top Dealmakers (with 180 lists of busy agents, agencies, editors and imprints) live contacts, our representation database, comprehensive coverage of reviews and bestseller lists from all over, special tools ranging from the Book Tracker to Amazoom, our custom publishing search index, and the new top reviewers tables.
 
Plus our popular member pages and blogs bring hundreds of thousands of focused page views from the publishing world to about 1,300 posted pages every month.
 
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Personnel News
At the Penguin Press publicity department, Sarah Hutson moves up to director of publicity, as Abigail Cleaves is promoted to assistant director and Caroline Garner is promoted to associate publicist.
 
The Women's National Book Association named Joan Gelfand as president at their annual meeting in early June.

Please Note
Tomorrow is camp drop-off day, so Lunch will either be late or skipped.
 
[Happy Birthday Bean!]
 

More New Jobs
We've added another 11 more new jobs to our industry-leading Job Board just since yesterday, the latest among well over 100 listings in all still live from the past month.
 
For employers, we provide the unbeatable combination of the largest circulation in the business by far, a total focus on book publishing only, and the best prices anywhere.
 
And for job-seekers, we present great new possibilities every day and conveniences like an RSS ping to keep you posted on every new offering. Among the latest:
 
Editor, Electrical Engineering  [Full Time]
Springer Science + Business Media (Norwell, MA)
 
Senior Editor – Biomedicine/Life Sciences  [Full Time]
Springer Science + Business Media (New York, NY)
 
Academic Licensing Manager - East Coast  [Full Time]   
Springer Science + Business Media (New York, NY)
 
Academic Licensing Manager - West Coast  [Full Time]
Springer Science + Business Media (New York, NY)
 
National Accounts Manager  [Full Time]
Workman Publishing (New York, NY)
 
Content Systems Support Analyst  [Full Time]
Random House (New York, NY)
 
Contracts Manager  [Full Time]
Bedford/St. Martin's (Boston, MA)
 
Assoc Publishing  [Full Time]
Simon & Schuster (New York, NY)
 
Social Studies Editor  [Full Time]
Chelsea House (New York, NY)
 
Literary Agency Assistant  [Full Time]
Writers' Representatives (New York, NY)
 
Acquisitions Editor  [Full Time]
Globe Pequot Press (Guilford, CT)
 
Publishersmarketplace.com/jobs
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Last Straw for Cody's
After taking brief refuge in a new smaller Berkeley location in March, Cody's Books has now closed for good -- surprising customers on Friday with a locked door and a sign reading "Cody's Books is Closed -- Thank You." The staff was told that morning, and had no prior warning.
 
Owner Hiroshi Kagawa of the Japanese company IBC Publishing said later in a statement "unfortunately, my current business is not strong enough or rich enough to support Cody's." He added, "Cody's is my treasure and more than that, Cody's is a real friend of [the] Berkeley community and will be missed."
 
Co-founder of the original store Pat Cody aid the closing "makes me very sad. We worked so hard and we put so much into it, and it meant a lot to the community. It's a big loss."
Berkeley Daily Plant
SF Chronicle
 
Meanwhile, in Washington, DC, an independent children's bookstore Hooray for Books is opening in the space vacated by A Likely Story last November, run by two former staffers of that store, Trish Brown and Ellen Klein.
Washington Post

Children's Line Sold to RC2
Publications International is selling their children's book division to RC2 for $163 million in cash. The line, which had sales of approximately $112 million and operating income margin "in the mid-teens" as of their most recent full fiscal year will be used to bolster RC2's Learning Curve brand and early learning platform.
Release

Blackwell to Roll Out Espresso Machines
Blackwell will be the first UK retailer to put Espresso book machines in stores, planning to add them to all 60 locations followed a more limited trial this fall. (So far the machines are in place in just 11 locations worldwide.)

The Most News That the Business Uses
Every day, we gather, report, recap and interpret the most publishing news, deal transactions, and job offers anywhere. Today's Lunch Deluxe includes these additional stories and links:

• A New Fiction Scene in Argentina
• Suit Over Godfather Spinoff
• Conservative Publisher Says Goodbye to NYT

PublishersMarketplace.com always features all of the unique data and tools that drive business every day: Unlimited access to deals, our new Top Dealmakers (with 180 lists of busy agents, agencies, editors and imprints) live contacts, our representation database, comprehensive coverage of reviews and bestseller lists from all over, special tools ranging from the Book Tracker to Amazoom, our custom publishing search index, and the new top reviewers tables.
 
Plus our popular member pages and blogs bring hundreds of thousands of focused page views from the publishing world to about 1,300 posted pages every month.
 
Enjoy the most publishing information and resources available anywhere, yours for our basic monthly fee.
Join here

Personnel News
Deputy editor of The Bookseller magazine Joel Rickett is leaving to join Penguin UK as editorial director, starting at the end of August.
 
Borders Group has promoted Jennifer Northcutt to fiction buyer for Borders and Waldenbooks, reporting to Micha Hershman, merchandising director, fiction and Diversity. She was the young adult buyer in the children's group.
 
Katie Rose has been named vp, director of marketing, adult books at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, based in the Boston office. She has held various positions in college publishing and was most recently vp of marketing for Houghton Mifflin's College division.
 
Anne McPeak has joined A Public Space as managing editor. She was managing editor at Words Without Borders, and associate editor at The Hudson Review.
 
In the Crown publicity department, Dyana Messina and Alice Peisch have both been promoted to associate publicist. Both have been there for over two years.
 
Back on her blog Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind, Sarah Weinman picks up an acknowledgment by author James Grippando that editor Carolyn Marino has retired. "It could be argued that Carolyn Marino WAS crime fiction over at HarperCollins."
Confessions
 

More New Jobs
We've added another 7 more new jobs to our industry-leading Job Board since Friday, the latest among close to 100 listings in all still live from the past month.
 
For employers, we provide the unbeatable combination of the largest circulation in the business by far, a total focus on book publishing only, and the best prices anywhere.
 
And for job-seekers, we present great new possibilities every day and conveniences like an RSS ping to keep you posted on every new offering. Among the latest:
 
Senior Editor/Executive Editor - HarperOne  [Full Time]
HarperCollins Publishers (San Francisco, CA)
 
Publicity Assistant  [Full Time]
Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ)
 
Editor  [Full Time]
Ave Maria Press (Notre Dame, IN)
 
Marketing Associate  [Full Time]
HarperCollins Children's Books (New York, NY)
 
Assistant Publicist  [Full Time]
HaperCollins Publishers (New York, NY)
 
Senior Publicist  [Full Time]
The Perseus Books Group (New York, NY)
 
Designer-Covers  [Full Time]
Kensington Publishing Corp. (New York, NY)
 
Publishersmarketplace.com/jobs
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