TODAY'S NEWS

Creamer to Succeed Gompertz at Touchstone
Simon & Schuster moved quickly to replace Mark Gompertz as head of Touchstone Fireside, appointing Stacy Creamer v-p and publisher of the imprint. Earlier this week, Gompertz was named executive v-p, Digital Publishing. Creamer has been v-p and editor-in-chief of Random House’s Broadway Books imprint, where she edited such titles as the Pulitzer Prizing-winning Slavery by Another Name by Douglas Blackmon, Lauren Weisberger’s The Devil Wears Prada and Conspiracy of Fools by Kurt Eichenwald. Read on »

Europeans Seem to Know Little About Google Settlement, But Enough Not to Like It
By Andrew Albanese
Even though the deal does not directly apply to them, European and U.K. publishers and authors have been wary of the Google Book Search settlement from the outset, and at a session closing day two of the London Book Fair, they voiced their concern directly to one of the deal’s architects, Authors Guild president Paul Aiken. “You can look at this as a big old U.S. sandbox,” Aiken conceded to the audience, amid questions about what the settlement might mean in practice. “We’re trying this out.” Read on »

Minnesota Historical Society Press Cuts Output and Staff
By Claire Kirch
In response to an expected 45% cut in funding from the state, St. Paul-based Minnesota Historical Society Press (MHSP) announced this morning that it will decrease its annual book production by 30% and eliminate four positions from its 11-person staff. The Minnesota Historical Society, of which MHSP is a part, is expecting a 16% cut in its entire budget. A final decision on the budget is expected in late May or early June when Governor Tim Pawlenty and the state legislature announce an overall state budget for the upcoming biennium, which begins July 1. Read on »

High-Tech Awards, Low-Tech Contest
By Claire Kirch
While Unbridled Books is hoping booksellers will use some old-fashioned skills to win high-tech instruments, NetGalley is hoping to encourage them to read e-galleys, as the two companies partner to promote Last Night in Montreal, an Unbridled June release. As part of the contest, a Sony Reader will be awarded to each of three U.S. booksellers who creates the best handselling pitches for Emily St. John Mandel’s debut novel. The contest runs from May 1 to June 1, and the three best pitches will be posted on Unbridled’s Web site, as well as shared with media and on social networking sites. Read on »

Young LBF Attendees Flock to Hear Byng and Company's Canon Tales
By Lynn Andriani
Tuesday’s Society of Young Publishers (SYP) event, Canon Tales: Chapter 2: Promoting Creativity in Publishing, drew a mostly under-35 crowd of London Book Fair attendees. A star-studded line-up of presenters—including Canongate’s Jamie Byng and Boing Boing’s Cory Doctorow—was probably what brought many of the international young attendees to the event, although the unusual format (and bar set up in the back of the room) probably didn’t hurt. Read on »

Blogs

MORE STORIES

'The Hypnotist' Becomes One of the Fair's Big Books
By Nicholas Clee
While London saw a number of big book deals, one of the biggest involved the Swedish thriller, The Hypnotist. The title, which has yet to sell in the U.S., was at the center of a heated auction in the U.K. involving some of the country's leading crime publishers. Patrick Janson-Smith, of HarperCollins's Blue Door imprint, ultimately acquired the book for a rumored six-figures from Susanne Widen at Bonnier. Kepler, according to (yet more) rumors, is a pseudonym for Henning Mankell, the bestselling Swedish author published in the U.S. by Vintage. Auctions in other territories were in progress at press time as interest in the novel has been quickly bubbling up--the manuscript arrived on the desk of the acquiring editor, Jonas Axelson, about a month ago. Read on »

In U.K., Sony E-Reader Says Bring It On, Kindle
Editor's note: Due to a faulty link yesterday, the jump to this story did not appear in Wednesday's Daily.

Until now Sony has had the dedicated reading device market to itself in the U.K., where the Kindle has yet to be introduced. But Wesley Dearing, the product manager in the U.K. for the Sony Reader and part of the team who launched Reader in September 2008, knows the Kindle is coming, eventually, and even has a message: bring it on. “So far, we’ve had the market to ourselves, and that’s been okay,” Dearing told PW, “but competition will help raise awareness.” Read on »

Page to Screen: A Hot LBF Book and a Chef Memoir
By Rachel Deahl
This week in Page to Screen—PW's weekly column tracking film rights circulating and sold in Hollywood—a novel about Russian Ballerinas is the talk among scouts and a young pastry chef’s memoir makes the rounds.

One of the buzz books at the London Book Fair, Daphne Kalotay’s Russian Winter, is, we hear, already the talk among some scouts. This, despite the fact that agents at William Morris—Anna DeRoy is handling the film rights—say the book won't officially go out for film until edits come back. The novel, which Dorian Karchmar (also of WMA) sold to Harper's Jonathan Burnham right before the fair, follows a famous Russian ballerina who defects from Moscow after WWII, selling her prized jewelry collection in the prcoess. The book criss-crosses between present-day Boston and post-war Moscow and slowly unravels, through details about the sold jewels, deep-rooted mysteries in the ballerina’s life. The book sold at auction for a hefty sum, at least in the high six figures. Read on »

The PW Morning Report
William Morris chief criticized in new book; BookSwim reviewed; Linda Gregg wins $50,000 Jackson Poetry Prize; Authors Try Google Profiles; LA BookFest Lineup Read on »

AUTHORS ON THE AIR

Authors on the Air: The Purity Myth; First Comes Love, Then Comes Money; The House on Mango Street at 25
This morning on Today, feminist Jessica Valenti shot down The Purity Myth: How America's Obsession with Virginity Is Hurting Young Women (Seal Press, 978-1580052535, $24.95). Read on »

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Working Girls' in Seattle
Members of Seattle's publishing industry recently joined hundreds of well-wishers at the Kirkland Women's Club to celebrate the publication of Karen Burns' The Amazing Adventures of Working Girl: Real Life Career Advice You Can Actually Use (Running Press). Pictured standing (l. to r.) are: Roberta Trahan, marketing consultant; Kit Bakke, author; Jennifer McCord, publishing consultant; (seated) Karen Burns and Alice Acheson, both marketing specialists.
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JOB OF THE DAY

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