TODAY'S NEWS

Macadam/Cage Weathering Cash Crunch
by Matthew Thornton
A cash crunch at Macadam/Cage has forced the San Francisco-based independent publisher to lay off several staff, including editors Khristina Wentzinger and Dave Adams and marketing director Melanie Mitchell, some of whom sent out e-mails to that effect to concerned publishing contacts this week. However, editor-in-chief Pat Walsh insisted that the current cash shortage is “hardly a sign of ill health,” likening the situation to that of a marathon runner with a leg cramp. Walsh, who helped found the house in 1998 and who returned there this spring after several years spent pursuing his writing career, attributed Macadam’s financial woes to the transition bumps involved in switching to a single distributor, PGW, at the beginning of this year, as well as an unanticipated level of returns associated with the house’s earlier acquisition of MacMurray & Beck. Read on »

NEIBA Launches with Conversation on Bookselling
by Judith Rosen
The 35th annual New England Independent Booksellers Association Trade Show opened yesterday morning at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston with a program that hearkened back to earlier (pre-Amazon) days when independent booksellers dominated the book market, and booksellers and publishers (not just sales reps) treated each other as colleagues. Billed as a “conversation” with Bob Miller, president and publisher of HarperStudio, and Jonathan Karp, publisher and editor-in-chief of Twelve at Hachette, the discussion focused on ways that independents, which now comprise roughly 10% of the book market, could shore up their financial stability and covered a broad range of topics, including asking ABA to look into working out an arrangement for bookstores to sell Sony Readers. Other topics included POD, with Karp predicting that within the next two decades books will be distributed in hardcopy and that booksellers would print them from digital files in their stores, to nonreturnable product, something HarperStudio is exploring. Read on »

Roxburgh Departs Boyds Mills
By John A. Sellers
Stephen Roxburgh has resigned as publisher at Boyds Mills Press. He was appointed to the position in February 2007, taking over from Kent Brown, who will serve as interim publisher following Roxburgh’s resignation. Previously, Roxburgh had been associate publisher at Boyds Mills, after the company’s 2004 acquisition of Front Street Books, which Roxburgh founded in 1994. “If anybody looks at our record, they’ll see we’re long-term players,” said Brown, who called Roxburgh a friend and said he respects his decision to resign. “We have a great team of people making books.” Read on »

Big Night on the Horizon for ‘Brisingr’
By John A. Sellers
One of this season’s biggest children’s titles, Brisingr by Christopher Paolini, is finally going on sale—at midnight tonight. The book has a 2.5 million copy first printing, the largest to date for Random House Children’s Books; more than 1,600 midnight parties have been registered on the official site, though the publisher expects the final tally of parties to reach 2,500. Read on »

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Last Chance for Publishing 101
Publishers Weekly’s one-day seminar for aspiring authors is set for next Monday, September 22 at the Kimmel Center on the campus of NYU. The conference will explore the basics of book publishing and offer advice on how to get published. In addition to keynote speaker Wally Lamb, panelists include authors, agents and publishers. Morning sessions are Pub 101: Nuts and Bolts of Publishing and Agent/Author/Editor/Relationship. Afternoon sessions are Alternative Publishing, Marketing & Publicity and Writing for the Children’s and Young Adult Market.. For more information on the conference or to register, go to www.publishersweekly.com/pub101. Registrations will also be accepted on site on Monday.

Monday's Reviews Today: Spy Fiction & the Gen-Y Workforce
In The Spanish Game, a new thriller from Charles Cumming, the author's protagonist Alec Milius returns after being ousted from his job at MI6. A new assignment crops up for Milius, taking the now hard-drinking government man to Basque country, in a novel that is "spy fiction of the highest order." Switching gears to the work/life balance, Tamara Erickson talks careers to the kids in Plugged In: The Generation Y Guide to Thriving at Work. As per our critic: "The author’s thoroughness in translating generic advice—such as the importance of developing good communications skills—into Gen Y–speak makes the book informative and appealingly fresh." Read on »

AUTHORS ON THE AIR

Authors on the Air: Brisingr; Igor tie-ins; Alec Baldwin
Authors on this morning’s Today: Christopher Paolini, whose hefty Brisingr (Knopf Books for Young Readers, $27.50; Listening Library unabridged CD, $60) goes on sale at midnight tonight. Pastry queen Lauren Chattman boarded Dessert Express: 100 Sweet Treats You Can Make in 30 Minutes or Less (Taunton, $17.95). After the jump: Alec Baldwin, Igor tie-ins, Betty White and Towelhead. Read on »

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Roth on Camera
On Tuesday Philip Roth (l.) was interviewed by author Ben Taylor in a live broadcast to promote his new novel, Indignation (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). Roth, joined here on the set with HMH v-p and executive director of publicity Lori Glazer, also answered call-in questions from readers. Submit your pictures here »

JOB OF THE DAY

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