Lines Between the Christian and Trade Markets Continue to Blur With Growth on All Fronts As the entire world raptly parses the papacy, smack in the middle of an overtly faith based presidency, it should come as no surprise that religious books have achieved double-digit growth every month for the past few years. Evangelical viewpoints…Continue Reading
PEOPLE The latest changes under PW’s new management include the departures of Jeff Zaleski, John Mutter, and two other staffers. This follows the arrival of Karen Holt as Deputy Editor mid-month. Ivan Held has been named President of Putnam. Held, who was most recently VP Associate Publisher of Warner Books, will begin his new position…Continue Reading
History and Hysteria : Vampire Invade europe, Japan’s Humbert Humbert, French Firefighters Go Macho Just as it seemed the somnolent retail toy market was perking up, with strong late-December sales and words like “optimistic” floating through the press, this year’s lackluster Toy Fair served as a reminder that it’s going to take more than a…Continue Reading
Though the personal life of Abraham Lincoln has, of late, been fodder for American readers, it may come as a surprise that Honest Abe, along with other prominent American historical figures, has become a figure of interest in Korea. “For awhile there, it seemed all anyone was interested in was our Lincoln-related backlist,” including Carl…Continue Reading
People The beginning of a new year seems to have prompted some early spring cleaning, with an unusual number of moves around the industry. The one that got the most attention was Sara Nelson’s move to PW as its new Editor-in-Chief, replacing Nora Rawlinson, who may be reached at norar@nyc.rr.com. Lee Boudreaux has left Random…Continue Reading
Never known for its glamor, the permissions department has been getting a facelift and slowly gaining status as the legitimate, income-generating department it has always been. Its doing its fair share to boost the collective, otherwise sagging coffers of rights departments that have been hit by the retrenchment and subsequent mergers of book clubs as…Continue Reading
People Maureen O’Neal has left Ballantine and can be reached by email at mrnoneal@aol.com. Elizabeth Dyssegaard is also leaving at the end of the summer. Katherine Beitner to HarperCollins as Associate Publishing Director. She was Director of Publicity for Harmony and Shaye Areheart Books. In children’s books there is more movement: Last month Diana Blough…Continue Reading
People Publishers haven’t gotten the memo about summer doldrums, apparently, because this has been a record month for job changes: Phaidon Press announced that Chris North has become MD, working out of its London headquarters. North was most recently at HarperCollins, first in New York and later in Toronto as COO of HarperCollins Canada. Janet…Continue Reading
People June was a relatively quiet month, though that doesn’t guarantee a quiet summer, judging from the increase of job listings on industry job boards and murmurings around town: Harold Augenbraum is leaving The Mercantile Library to become Executive Director of the National Book Foundation, effective July 12. A search committee has been formed to…Continue Reading
Iraqi Exile in Denmark, Czech Band Beats Persecution, Chinese Memoir Smuggled to France Defining the immigrant experience is about as easy as finding the proverbial needle in a haystack, yet a former Iraqi citizen now living in Denmark has penned her contribution to this genre with a “quiet, sad and nevertheless unsentimental portrayal of [her]…Continue Reading
