TODAY'S NEWS

Nelson Pulling Out of BEA, ICRS
By Lynn Garrett
Thomas Nelson dropped a bombshell late yesterday when it announced that it is pulling out of both BEA and the International Christian Retail Show (ICRS), the summer show of CBA, the association of Christian retailers. The announcement came on the heels of Nelson’s first Open House event for Christian retailers, held last week (April 10-12) in Nashville.

Open House was created as an alternative to Nelson’s participation in Advance, CBA’s winter trade show. Soon after Nelson announced its abandonment of Advance, the show was cancelled and replaced with an Industry Conference that drew disappointing participation. Now Nelson has decided to abandon trade shows altogether.

In a statement, Nelson CEO Michael Hyatt said, "The current economic downturn is forcing us to reevaluate the expenditure of every marketing dollar. We are committed to doing our best to support our products and distributors with marketing expenditures that result in greater sales. And we have determined that, for Thomas Nelson, these trade shows provide very little return on a very significant investment." Read on »

Pat Walsh Returning to MacAdam/Cage
By Rachel Deahl
Pat Walsh is returning to MacAdam/Cage in the newly created position of editor-in-chief. Walsh, who left his editor job at the literary San Francisco house in 2005 to pursue his writing career, remained in touch with staffers throughout his time away. According to publicity director Julie Burton, Walsh was in close contact with publisher David Poindexter and, after the two “casually” discussed Walsh coming back on board, Poindexter has “made it official.”

Walsh, who was among the founding editors of MacAdam/Cage in 1998, will be taking on a more executive role than he previously held, overseeing the editorial department and, as Burton noted, maintaining “a heavy hand in marketing.” Walsh will not, however, be taking over anyone else’s workload.

Since he left the house, Walsh has published three books, including 78 Reasons Why Your Book Will Never Be Published and 14 Reasons Why It Just Might (Penguin); he will be returning to the Bay Area with his family for the job, after living in Portland, Ore. With Walsh on board, McAdam/Cage will have 14 employees, five of whom are in the editorial department.

Day Two Brings Fresh Drama at Rowling Trial
By John Sellers
As new witnesses took the stand on the second day of the Rowling/Warner Brothers trial against RDR Books, discussion moved to the usefulness of the Harry Potter Lexicon, the potential advantages of its being first to market, and the degree to which the book might affect sales of Rowling’s own long-planned Potter encyclopedia. Steven Vander Ark, the author of the Lexicon, gave emotional testimony, and two publishing executives—Suzanne Murphy and Bruce Harris—took the stand as expert witnesses, but offered opposing opinions. And Judge Robert P. Patterson surprised the courtroom when, at day’s close, he seemed to advocate for a settlement, saying that there were “strong issues” at stake in the case that were not being addressed, adding, “The parties ought to talk about seeing if there can’t be a way to work this thing out.”

During his testimony, Vander Ark, a boyish, 50-year-old former middle-school librarian who has managed the Web site that the Lexicon is based on since 2000, defended the book as a “ready reference” for fans of the series who might not want to pore through the books’ 200 chapters to find mention of a character, creature or spell. He said that while the Lexicon was not intended to be an exhaustive resource, it is a way to “synthesize” information about characters, creatures and plot points and show when and where they occur in the extensive Potter universe. Read on »

LBF Updates: HM Lands Bologna Favorite, Genesis
By Matthew Thornton
Margaret Raymo, editorial director for Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, pre-empted U.S. rights to Genesis by Bernard Beckett. The first novel was one of the hits at last month's Bologna Fair, where U.K. publisher Quercus was shopping it (they had bought world rights from Text in Australia just before the fair). Raymo along with many other HM execs including Becky Saletan, senior v-p and publisher of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt adult trade books, believe that the book holds a wider appeal than just young adults, and the two divisions are collaborating and publishing it as an adult book in spring 2009. “It is thrilling to have this opportunity to exploit all the strengths of our combined houses to reach audiences of all ages who love big ideas and an ingenious conceit in a taut package,” said Saletan. Read on »

LBF Updates: Mayer Endorses Publication of the Good and Commercial
By Jim Milliot
Introduced by agent Ed Victor as a “publisher to his core,” Peter Mayer, former head of Penguin and who now runs both Overlook Press and Duckworth Press, was presented with the Trilogy Lifetime Achievement Award at a lunch during Tuesday’s London Book Fair. Mayer, who began as a publisher of mass market paperbacks and became known for publishing some on publishing’s most respected authors, said it is important to publish not only serious books, but dangerous books and commercial titles as well. He noted that it was his decision to publish a series of Sudoku books that will permit the publication of more worthwhile works well after the Sudoku craze is over. Read on »

Blogs

MORE STORIES

LBF Updates: U.K. Publishers Association Keynote Laments Illiteracy and Piracy
A panel of industry professionals, academics and politicians spoke in sweeping terms about publishing in the U.K. at this morning’s Publishers Association Keynote at the London Book Fair. Their comments ranged from optimism about the power of books to transform lives, to pessimism about the challenges presented by technology, especially in terms of piracy. Simon Juden, chief executive of the Publishers Association, which is the U.K.’s leading trade association for publishers, moderated. Read on »

LBF Updates: LBF Toasts Author of the Day Francesca Simon
London Book Fair author of the day Francesca Simon met with American booksellers at a lunchtime reception today at Earls Court. Simon is the author of the children’s series Horrid Henry, which has sold 12 million copies worldwide and nine million copies in the U.K. Last month, Sourcebooks announced it will bring the books to the U.S. Simon and her publisher, Dominique Raccah, have high hopes that American children will flock to the series, which has been a huge hit in England and carries a British flavor (among the books in the series are Horrid Henry Meets the Queen). Read on »

LBF Updates: Afghanistan's Most Famous Woman Looks for a Publisher
Several titles out on submission in the U.S. may get a boost from foreign sales at the fair. Afghan politician Malalai Joya, dubbed “the most famous woman in Afghanistan ” by the BBC, is shopping a memoir via Natasha Daneman at Westwood Creative Artists. Titled Raising My Voice: Terror, Tragedy and Hope in Afghanistan, rights have already been sold to Macmillan in Australia in a six-figure deal, and in France at auction, on the strength of an outline and sample chapter. Offers in the U.K. and Israel are on the table, and a U.S. deal is expected later on this week. The book will be written with Derrick O’Keefe. Read on »

AUTHORS ON THE AIR

Authors on the Air: Maria Shriver; Criminal Syndicates, Unwrapped; Robert Frost, Too
Today, Oprah talks with bestselling Maria Shriver, whose brand new book is Just Who Will You Be? Big Question. Little Book. Answer Within. (Hyperion, $14.95; unabridged Hyperion CD, $14.95). Read on »

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Sandalow Signs in DC
Author Marc Sandalow gave a reading and signed copies of his new biography, Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi’s Life, Times, and Rise to Power (Rodale) last night at the L Street branch of Borders in Washington, D.C. Sandalow, former Washington bureau chief for the San Francisco Chronicle, is a political analyst for KPIX-TV and KCBS-radio in San Francisco. Submit your pictures here »

CORRECTION

In yesterday’s story, “Borders Reorganizes Merchandising Team”, Micha Hershman’s name was misspelled (as Mischa Herman) and Judy Fox was incorrectly identified as a planner; she is a director.

JOB OF THE DAY

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