Category Archives: Featured Articles

New York is More Avengers

THE SOUS–SOL JAVITS WAS PACKED FROM FEB. 24-26 FOR THE 1ST Annual New York Comic Con with loads of comics, books, toys, video games, posters, artists, retailers and fans. Fans canvassing the aisles for rare comics and autographs. Fans wearing corsets and pleather pants and Jedi gear. Fans that give new etymological emphasis to their…Continue Reading

International Bestsellers: A Jacques of All Trades

Jealousy, Hope, Love, Frustration, Pinochet & the PLO Craftsman, plumber, brick-layer, ironware merchant, script writer, filmmaker, and now novelist, Nan Aurousseau has hewed his vast trove of on-the-job tales into a thrilling novel called Overalls. Like so many beleaguered artists, the adroit Frenchman wrote the autobiographical bestseller (not a memoir, mind you) while down and…Continue Reading

Size Matters: Superagencies & Literary Management Companies Fill In Where Others Leave Off

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…Continue Reading

International Bestsellers: Goodbye Bridget, Hello Katja

When Bridget Jones stumbled into the global spotlight in 1998, readers immediately identified with the bumbling thirty-something who recorded a year of her life in sentence fragments, cigarettes, and calories, making Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary not only a mega international success, but also a genre-spawning sensation. While European readers have been devouring Cecelia Ahern…Continue Reading

Trendspotting 2006

Last year brought more change to an industry which is, with varying results, trying hard to embrace it. We asked some people who have recently undergone and embraced their own transitions, to look at what changes they see on the horizon. Herewith: Larry Kirshbaum, Former CEO, TWBG President, LJK Literary Management & PW’s Publisher of…Continue Reading

2005: Breaking Traditional Tunnel Vision

At this time last year, Google had formulated its plan to launch Google Print — an end of the year event that prompted us to proclaim 2004 the year of the technology comeback. 2005 saw the aftereffects of this techno renaissance, with publishers both embracing technology as it moved into the mainstream (think viral marketing),…Continue Reading

Synergy Scores: Magazine and Book Publishers Ramp Up Those Multi-Media Platforms

This June when F+W Publications was sold to private equity firm Abry Partners for a sum in excess of $500 million, more than a few eyebrows were raised. Aside from the price tag, there was the fact that the company was transferred from one private equity firm (Providence Equity) to another, even though it had…Continue Reading

ABPA Package or Perish

On November 9 the American Book Producers Association hosted its annual conference at the Player’s Club, and 120 people attended a day that began with a keynote from PW’s Sara Nelson (who proudly announced that PW had won first prize for editorial in the Publishing/Journalism category at the recent Folio Awards), and ended with a…Continue Reading

Watch Your Backlist

Publishers and Booksellers Re-Assess Their Backlists, Stocking Deeper, While Printing Less, Plus: Looking Beyond the Shelf Backlist has always been a cash cow for those willing to milk it. Publishers have long tried enticing booksellers with annual promotions, Buy-Now-Pay-Later deals, Just In Time Inventory and the like – all with the hope of boosting their…Continue Reading

New York May Have Been Book Country, But Texas Is Book Capitol

Many of you may have missed the literary event of the month as it took place in a red state (albeit in a blue town). To kick off the 10th Annual Texas Book Festival in Austin, David McCullough, Salman Rushdie, Liz Smith, and Alexander McCall Smith were on hand for the black-tie gala to raise…Continue Reading