http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/free/ Publishers Lunch is the industry's "daily essential read," now shared with well over 13,000 publishing people every day. Each report gathers together stories from all over the web and print of interest to the professional trade book community, along with original reporting, plus a little perspective and the occasional wisecrack added in. en Copyright 2010 Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:36:41 -0500 http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification
Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel (Fiction)
The Age of Wonder, by Richard Holmes (General Nonfiction)
Cheever: A Life, by Blake Bailey (Biography)

[all of the above correspond to directly to our compilation Best of the Best of 2009 list]

Somewhere Towards the End, by Diana Athill (Autobiography)
Versed, by Rae Armantrout (Poetry)
Notes from No Man's Land, Eula Biss (Criticism)

In other awards news, the NY Public Library named the finalists for their annual Young Lions Award for a fiction writer 35 or under:

Jedediah Berry, The Manual of Detection
Katie Kitamura, The Longshot
Philipp Meyer, American Rust
C.E. Morgan, All the Living
Wells Tower, Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned

The regional winners of the Commonwealth Prize were also named, with the overall winners to be selected on April 12:

Best First Book
Adaobi Tricia Nwaubeni, I Do Not Come to You by Chance (Nigeria)
Shandi Mitchell, Under This Unbroken Sky (Canada)
Daniyal Mueenuddin, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders (Pakistan)
Glenda Guest, Siddon Rock (Australia)

Best Book
Marie Heese, The Double Crown (South Africa)
Michael Crummey, Galore (Canada)
Rana Dasgupta, Solo (UK)
Albert Wendt, The Adventures of Vela (Samoa)]]> http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/free/ http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/archives/006316.php Awards Free Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:36:41 -0500
The professional/trade division grew 10 percent at $ 107 million for the quarter, up 7 percent on a currency neutral basis. The company says "sales growth was strong in all regions, especially the U.S., where the holiday season was solid. Business publishing was driven by social media books; technology by books on new windows operating systems and certification; and consumer by the Meredith publishing agreement and For Dummies brand sales."

They announced that in their next fiscal year they will publish a line of "official" licensed, branded Facebook instruction guides, The Definitive Facebook Guides.

Higher education "is having a record-setting year, out-performing the market with strong results in all geographic regions and subject categories," according to ceo William Pesce. At $ 91.6 million the group was up 23 percent, while STM recorded sales of $ 228.4 million, up 13 percent.
Release]]> http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/free/ http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/archives/006312.php Earnings Reports Free Publishers Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:28:39 -0500 Marc Resnick has been promoted to executive editor, after over thirteen years with the house.

Peggy Hageman has joined the Overlook Press as an associate editor. She was previously at HarperCollins.

Mark Levine has joined BookMasters Distribution Services as publisher relations manager, joining newly appointed vp of business development Tony Proe. Most recently Levine as an acquisitions editor for Barnes & Noble Publishing.

powerHouse will use Random House Publisher Services for sales and distribution to the book and specialty trades.

Gail Hareven's The Confessions of Noa Weber, translated from the Hebrew by Dalya Bilu won the Best Translated Book Award for fiction.

Google Books announced yesterday an agreement with the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage to digitize "up to a million" out-of-copyright works from the National Libraries of Florence and Rome. It's their first partnership with Italian libraries, and "the first time we've worked with a ministry of culture." They will provide the ministry with copies of the scans so that they can be included in other aggregations, such as the EU project Europeana.]]> http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/free/ http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/archives/006311.php Awards Distribution Free Personnel eNews Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:27:35 -0500
The first title is a July release by journalist David Stipp, THE YOUTH PILL: Scientists at the Brink of an Anti-Aging Revolution, followed by Corina Yen's THE MAN WHO LIED TO HIS LAPTOP in September.]]> http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/free/ http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/archives/006307.php Free New Imprints Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:09:44 -0500
Part of the booksellers' argument is that "individual Canadian booksellers have traditionally played a key role in ensuring the promotion of Canadian authors and Canadian culture." But Amazon vp of global public policy Paul Misener says: "At some level it seems preposterous that that claim could be made, especially given our track record of eight years serving Canadian customers and authors and publishers. To claim that somehow an American company can't help Canadian culture is just proved wrong by the facts." Misener points out that Amazon sells Canadian-published works to customers from over 170 countries. "I don't think anybody is doing anything near this to help disseminate Canadian cultural products globally."

He says they want to cut supply chain costs and pass them along to customers, while also "increasing the number of categories of products available, just like we have elsewhere in the world."
Globe and Mail]]> http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/free/ http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/archives/006309.php Bookstores Free International News eNews Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:07:17 -0500 Carolrhoda Lab.

Speaking of young adult books, yesterday's Automat link to an LAT piece on the rising popularity of YA novels among adult readers was so heavily re-tweeted that it's worth a separate link. "Authors may gear their novels toward the junior and senior high crowd, but adults are snapping up the books, often about misfit teens or fantasy worlds.... Attracted by well-written, fast-paced and engaging stories that span the gamut of genres and subjects, such readers have mainstreamed a niche long derided as just for kids."
 
Kris Vreeland at Vroman's Bookstore confirms, "You have a lot of different people coming to young adult in a lot of different ways."
LAT

Yesterday Bloomsbury announced the launch of Berlin Academic in Germany, following the same model as their UK-based start-up Bloomsbury Academic. The new Berlin Academic staff includes digital marketing manager Katja Oechel (formerly at Elsevier and Springer), global strategist  Catharina Maracke, Global Strategist (former Director of Creative Commons International), and non executive director Malcolm Campbell (director, Earthscan Ltd; formerly Chairman, Berg Publishers).

In the UK, Mark Booth's new imprint at Hodder & Stoughton launching this fall will be called Coronet--reviving a moniker that was closed in 2004 and previously published authors ranging from PG Wodehouse and Ian Fleming to Fay Weldon.]]> http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/free/ http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/archives/006305.php Free International News New Imprints Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:43:04 -0500 David Foster Wallace. The collection will include materials for his forthcoming, posthumous work The Pale King upon the book's publication, scheduled for April 2011. Little, Brown is donating their own DFW correspondence and internal memos to the archive, too. The center has already posted a few samples from the collection online.
Release

Macmillan Audio has hired Liz Edelstein as digital content & marketing manager. She was a senior program manager at America Online/Netscape Communications and is the author of twelve romance/science fiction novels.]]> http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/free/ http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/archives/006304.php Free Personnel Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:41:17 -0500 Jud Laghi has formed the Jud Laghi Agency. He will continue to be affiliated with LJK Literary Management, where he was a senior agent, and will share office space and collaborate on projects with Kirshbaum and his colleagues. Laghi says, "I'll continue to represent primarily non-fiction projects, especially narrative, popular culture and business, along with literary fiction and thrillers. And I'm excited to both see, and partake in, what new opportunities will arise for authors in our rapidly evolving industry."

Barnes & Noble.com has hired Jonathan Shar as general manager, digital newsstand and emerging content, responsible for "creating and leading the digital newsstand and emerging content business, a large strategic focus for the company. He will work with newspaper, magazine, periodical, blogs and other content publishers, to sell and market their digital editorial products." He was svp and general manager of CNNMoney.com at Time, Inc.

In the UK, Harriet Wilson will join Harper Children's UK as editorial director, reporting to fiction publishing director, Rachel Denwood. Working alongside editorial director Nick Lake (who will focus on teen and YA), she will "commission and develop authors and series across the fiction list with a particular focus at the younger end."

As announced Friday, Lorin Stein, 37, will take over as editor of the Paris Review in April when Philip Gourevitch steps down. He has been an editor at Farrar, Straus since 1998. He says: "The Paris Review is an institution like nothing else in American letters. It stands for the newest, the best, the most daring in writing and art, and that's been the case now for more than fifty years. To be entrusted with that tradition is a true honor." Publisher Antonio Weiss notes "Lorin has an uncommon literary sensibility and eye for new talent."

This weekend the Washington Post had a long feature on attorney Bob Barnett's "virtual monopoly on the specialty of helping public figures cash in -- on power memoirs, on private-sector jobs." Most of the article won't be news to publishing people, but among the quotes from Barnett, he says "I've turned down many of the purveyors of hate" as potential clients. He also says this about his eclectic client roster: "When you're a doctor and you're a Democrat and you help a person and you make them well, that patient can go attack the patients you also heal. But your job is to help them, and that's what I do as a lawyer. I help Sarah Palin but I also help Barack Obama. That doesn't trouble me."

"I could have a partisan law practice," Barnett says. "Many do. I wouldn't find that satisfying, because I like to represent a variety of people. I like having dinner with them. I like reading the book when it's done. I like hearing their ideas. I love debating with them if I don't agree with them."
Post

Friday's issue had the wrong link for JA Konrath's blog post about his booming self-republished Kindle sales. Here's the right link for those who are still looking.]]> http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/free/ http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/archives/006300.php Agency News Free Personnel Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:14:50 -0500 Lorin Stein, 37, will take over as editor of the Paris Review in April when Philip Gourevitch steps down. He has been an editor at Farrar, Straus since 1998. He says: "The Paris Review is an institution like nothing else in American letters. It stands for the newest, the best, the most daring in writing and art, and that's been the case now for more than fifty years. To be entrusted with that tradition is a true honor." Publisher Antonio Weiss notes "Lorin has an uncommon literary sensibility and eye for new talent." http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/free/ http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/archives/006297.php Free Personnel Fri, 05 Mar 2010 11:47:40 -0500
The company says that "all models of iPad will be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK in late April."
Release

In other device news, the WSJ reports on plans by Sony to introduce "a portable device that shares characteristics of netbooks, electronic-book readers and handheld-game machines" later this year to compete with the iPad.
WSJ

Author JA Konrath continues his series of posts reporting on his progress selling some of his own books on the Kindle. "I'm currently selling $ 1.99 ebooks at the rate of 170 per day. That means I'm earning around $ 120 per day just sitting on my butt. If this trend continues as-is, I'll earn $ 43,800 this year on previously published short stories and novels that NY print publishing rejected. But I don't expect this trend to continue as-is. I expect it to explode," when Amazon doubles the royalty for such projects.
Blog]]> http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/free/ http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/archives/006295.php Free eNews Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:37:23 -0500 Selina McLemore has been promoted to senior editor and will become second-in-command to editorial director Amy Pierpont. Alex Logan has been promoted to associate editor, adding romance authors to her list as well as acquiring more for GCP and 5 Spot.    

Biographer and director of the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library Jean Strouse has won the first BIO Award, to be given each year by the Biographers International Organization to a colleague who has "made a major contribution to the advancement of the art and craft of real life depiction." ]]> http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/free/ http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/archives/006292.php Free Personnel Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:28:44 -0500 The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano
Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War by Karl Marlantes
The Tale of Halcyon Crane by Wendy Webb
Bite Me: A Love Story by Christopher Moore
Secret Daughter: A Novel by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
A Murderous Procession by Ariana Franklin
Solar by Ian McEwan
The Creation of Eve by Lynn Cullen
The Spellmans Strike Again: A Novel by Lisa Lutz
31 Bond Street: A Novel by Ellen Horan
Nowhere to Run by C.J. Box
The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker
Whiter Than Snow by Sandra Dallas
Anthill by E. O. Wilson
Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet by Bill McKibben
Purge by Sofi Oksanen
The Lake Shore Limited by Sue Miller
The Season of Second Chances: A Novel by Diane Meier
Seeing Stars by Diane Hammond
Full list]]> http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/free/ http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/archives/006291.php Awards Free Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:26:55 -0500
Sara Gruen is among the Thursday luncheon authors for her delayed second novel Ape House, and Sarah Ferguson will be among the Wednesday children's breakfast authors. Author featured authors include Cory Doctorow, William Gibson, Christopher Hitchens, Patton Oswalt, Richard Peck, and Mitali Perkins.

BEA says they are adding a third on-the-floor author stage, with those slots to be filled in March and April. ]]> http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/free/ http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/archives/006288.php Book Fairs Free Thu, 04 Mar 2010 09:25:29 -0500
Random UK ceo Gail Rebuck promises in the announcement that "his book is frank, open, revealing, and written in an intimate and accessible style. As an account of the nature and uses of power, it will have a readership that extends well beyond politics, to all those who want to understand the challenge of leadership in today's world." Blair adds, "I have really enjoyed the writing of the book. I have tried to write a book which describes the human as much as the political dimensions of life as Prime Minister. Though necessarily retrospective, it is an attempt to inform and shape current and future thinking as much as an historical account of the past."

A WSJ blog opines "the implication is that Blair thinks it will be safe by then to release his 'frank and revealing' book on life as PM because another party might well be in power. It will be said in certain quarters that this announcement amounts to Tony writing off Gordon or at least pricing in a change of government. His decision to publish so soon doesn't necessarily scream confidence in a Labor win."]]> http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/free/ http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/archives/006287.php Free International News New Releases/Forthcoming Thu, 04 Mar 2010 09:18:15 -0500 Margaret Stead will join the company in late April as editorial director. She was previously editorial director of The Harvill Press. Current editorial director Caroline Knight has resigned, by will continue to work for the company after relocating to Kent.

Barnes & Noble announced the winners of the 2009 Discover Great New Writers awards: Playwright Victor Lodato's debut novel MATHILDA SAVITCH (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), and Dave Cullen's COLUMBINE (Twelve).

Daniyal Mueenuddin won The Story Prize for his collection In Other Rooms, Other Wonders.

Chicago's citywide reading program is still going strong, naming Colm Tobin's BROOKLYN as their 18th selection.

Beacon Press is switching their US distribution to Random House Publisher Services as of July 1. Houghton Mifflin, Beacon's distributor for the past ten years, will accept returns until September 30.

Sam Tanenhaus is relinquishing his duties as editor of the NYT's Week In Review, though he still is not content with running the Book Review, continuing to write for that section and the paper's Arts & Leisure section. Editor Bill Keller in his memo refers to TBR as "the best (and not merely because it's the last) book review in America."
Observer

Author John Edgar Wideman is publishing his newest work BRIEFS, STORIRES FOR THE PALM OF THE MIND, through Lulu.com as of March 14. It's called a collection of "microstories" that "unveils an original voice and structure, with storytellers who are eavesdroppers, diarists and haiku historians." Portions of the collection have already been selected for the  O. Henry Prize Stories 2010 and Best African American Fiction 2010 anthologies.

Wideman says in the release "Lulu seems to represent a very live possibility as the publishing industry mutates. I like the idea of being in charge. I have more control over what happens to my book. And I have more control over whom I reach."

Also: "I have a very personal distaste for the blockbuster syndrome. The blockbuster syndrome is a feature of our social landscape that has gotten out of hand. Unless you become a blockbuster, your book disappears quickly. It becomes not only publish or perish, but sell or perish."

At the same time, Lulu says he is the first in a VIP service that "takes care of most pre- and post-production work, including design, media outreach and marketing."
Release

In a related vein, we apparently misunderstood Greenleaf's release on John Gray--Mind Publishing is a separate company publishing his new book.]]> http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/free/ http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/archives/006286.php Awards Distribution Free Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:29:17 -0500