TODAY'S NEWS

BookExpo America 2009: Reed Plans ‘Smaller, Better’ BEA
By Calvin Reid
Acknowledging the ongoing debate over the future of BookExpo America, Reed Exhibitions held an unusual pre-show press conference to offer updates on attendance and the size of the show—21% smaller than the 2007 New York show— and to highlight new events—like Perseus’s 48 hour book project—instituted for this year’s show.

BEA show manager Lance Fensterman characterized the press conference as one aspect of an ongoing “open dialog” with the media and with the book industry about “where the show is going.” He invoked a number of “themes” that characterized the show’s new direction: “content in all forms and connectivity to the audience.” Read on »

BookExpo America 2009: HarperCollins Featuring e-Galleys at BEA
By Jim Milliot
HarperCollins, which will be using electronic catalogues in its booth at BookExpo America this year, will also distribute the majority of its galleys that way as well. The publisher is using the Symtio card, being tested by a separate HC division as a way to help booksellers sell e-books, to distribute nine children’s galleys, 14 adult titles and one audiobook. Galleys of four adult titles and three children's books will be available in print editions. Josh Marwell, president of HC sales, said using the card should make it easier for booksellers and librarians to take galleys home, as well as being a more environmentally friendly way to give out galleys. In addition, using Symtio will let HC give out a wider range of galleys plus greater quantities of digital galleys than print ones. Read on »

BookExpo America 2009: Tina, Harry & the CEOs
By Lynn Andriani
Tina Brown, founder and editor-in-chief of the Daily Beast, was already losing her voice as she began moderating a CEO roundtable discussion at BEA Thursday afternoon with HarperCollins’s Brian Murray, Simon & Schuster’s Carolyn Reidy, Macmillan’s John Sargent and Perseus’s David Steinberger. Forty minutes into the discussion, Brown’s voice reduced to a whisper, her husband, journalist Harry Evans, took over, seamlessly picking up where Brown left off amid a discussion of what still works when it comes to selling books. And while the Brown-Evans tag team wasn’t intentional, it wound up providing a poetic juxtaposition: Brown saw digital media as a positive force in publishing, but Evans, while not exactly a naysayer, was a bit more skeptical. Read on »

Cathy’s Book Trilogy Comes to a Close
By John A. Sellers
The Cathy’s Book trilogy is wrapping up this month, and as befits a series that’s had a strong interactive element from the outset, Cathy’s Ring, the third and final book, is being heavily promoted by publisher Running Press—online and off. Read on »

Clark Exits 'Granta'
After a little over a year as editor at Granta, Alex Clark is stepping down. A brief statement from the British quarterly literary magazine said Granta’s American editor, John Freeman, will now step into the role of acting editor. Freeman will divide his time between New York and London.

Clark, the magazine's first female editor, was a culture and book critic at the Observer before joining Granta; she was a judge for the 2008 Booker Prize. Freeman, former president of the NBCC, joined Granta in December 2008.

Blogs

MORE STORIES

Job Moves
Brenda Bowen, who left HarperCollins in February, is moving in a new direction, signing on as a literary agent at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates, beginning July 6. Bowen will represent authors and illustrators of children’s books for all ages (preschool to teen) as well as graphic novels.

Ellen Krieger, v-p and associate publisher of Aladdin, will retire at the end of June. She joined Simon & Schuster in 1994 as Aladdin’s v-p, editorial director, after serving as editorial director of the Flare and Camelot imprints at Avon Books for 10 years. She had previously been subsidiary rights manager for Harper Junior Books. While at Aladdin, she oversaw the merging of Pocket Books’ middle grade and teen imprints into the children’s division, and launched Aladdin M!X, the first branded program targeting tweens. Under her watch Aladdin has grown from an in-house paperback imprint to a full hardcover/softcover imprint.

Monday's Reviews Today: Dunant's 'Hearts' & L.A.'s Comedy Scene in the '70s
In Sarah Dunant's Sacred Hearts, set in 16th-century Italy, a young girl, with a beautiful singing voice, is shipped off to a local convent by her father to block a forbidden romance. Per our review: "A cast of complex characters breathe new life into the classic star-crossed lovers trope while affording readers a look at a facet of Renaissance life beyond the far more common viscounts and courtesans." And in I’m Dying Up Here: Heartbreaks and High Times in Standup Comedy’s Golden Era, William Knoedelseder, who covered young comics like Jay Leno, David Letterman and Richard Lewis as they were rising up throught the comedy ranks in L.A. in the '70s, delivers an addition to some of the "key classics on comedy." Read on »

The PW Morning Report
A Gloomy BEA; EU Confirms Google Probe; A Kindle Competitor; Nelson on BEA. Read on »

AUTHORS ON THE AIR

Authors on the Air: After Etan; Maneater; Inside the Apple
This evening, 20/20 talks with Emmy-winning TV newsmagazine producer Lisa Cohen, author of After Etan: The Missing Child Case that Held America Captive (Grand Central Publishing, 978-0446582513, $25.99). PW wrote “As true crime, this tragic tale is a standout, and Cohen, though no prose stylist, does a creditable job telling it.” Read on »

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Submit Your Photo for Pics of the Week!
Clarence Clemons, the legendary sax player in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, helped kick-off BEA 2009 last night with Steven Tyler, frontman for Aerosmith, at the show's Keynote event. The musicians joined author Chuck Klosterman to discuss their lives, their music and their forthcoming books. Grand Central Publishing is releasing Clemons’s memoir, Big Man: Real Life & Tall Tales in October, and HarperCollins/Ecco is releasing Tyler’s memoir, Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?: A Rock ‘n Roll Memoir this fall. Submit Your Photos Here »

JOB OF THE DAY

PW VIRTUAL EDITION

To access the latest issue of Publishers Weekly no matter where you are, be sure to take a look at PW's Virtual Edition -- available online anytime. If you're not already a subscriber, take a look at a sample issue here.