Short news items from the world of book publishing:
07/25/2024
Skyhorse to Publish Melania Trump's Memoir
'Melania' is slated for fall, though no official release date has been announced. The title is currently only available for pre-order via the former First Lady's website.07/25/2024
Brooklyn Book Festival Announces Lineup, BoBi Award Winner Roz Chast
The Brooklyn Book Festival has announced the author lineup for its 2024 edition, slated for September 22–30. Additionally, cartoonist Roz Chast has been named as recipient of the 2024 Best of Brooklyn Award.07/24/2024
Dey Street to Publish Cher's Memoir
The first installment of the two-part memoir from Cher, which covers the superstar's childhood and career up to meeting and marrying Sonny Bono, is slated for November 19.07/24/2024
2024 Ringo Comic Book Awards Nominees Announced
The winners of this year's Mike Wieringo Comic Book Awards, voted on by the comic book industry creative community, will be announced on September 21.07/23/2024
S&S to Distribute Perfect Bound Clients
Perfect Bound, a startup platform that enables publishers to solicit print jobs from printers worldwide, will partner with Simon & Schuster Client Services to offer distribution services to independent publishers using the Perfect Bound platform.07/23/2024
Andrea Rosen to Join HBG as VP of Special Markets
Rosen was most recently VP of sales strategy and account planning at Disney Publishing Worldwide, and also spent 19 years at HarperCollins, where she was SVP of special markets. Her appointment follows the recent restructuring of HBG's sales department.07/23/2024
NYPL Celebrates 100 Years of James Baldwin
The New York Public Library will stage two major exhibitions of Baldwin's papers, one of the biggest adult book giveaways in its history, and more to commemorate the writer's centennial.07/23/2024
Frankfurt Launches Digital Networking Platform
The Frankfurt Book Fair has launched Frankfurt Connect, a new digital platform offering tools to facilitate networking and content sharing for attendees and providing guidance for navigating the fair.07/23/2024
Comics Vet Scott Dunbier to Launch New Publisher, Act 4
The former VP of special projects at IDW and editor-in-chief of Wildstorm will debut a graphic novel shingle of his own at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con.07/22/2024
Killer Nashville Names 2024 Silver Falchion, Claymore Award Finalists
Winners of both awards will be announced on August 23, on the final night of the Killer Nashville International Writers’ Conference.07/22/2024
Barrs Moves to LB, Kulick Promoted to Executive AD
Michael Barrs has been named VP and associate publisher at Little, Brown and Company, a role he previously held at the Hachette Books imprint, which was dissolved in last week's reorg at HBG. Gregg Kulick has been promoted to executive art director at LB.07/22/2024
Int'l Orgs Call for Turkey to Unblock Wattpad
On July 12, Turkey blocked access to online writing and publishing platform Wattpad. Turkish and international book business organizations, including the International Publishers Association and PEN International, are calling for a reversal.07/19/2024
Southern Festival of Books Announces Lineup
Set for October 26-27 in Nashville, the event will feature such authors as Joan Baez, TJ Klune, Lisa Unger, Erik Larson, Jayne Anne Phillips, Ann Patchett, and many others.07/18/2024
Frankfurt and Bologna Partner on Games Business Center
The Frankfurt Book Fair and Bologna Children’s Book Fair's joint center will connect gaming and publishing professionals, expanding the fairs' existing film and TV licensing offerings. The center will debut at the upcoming editions of both fairs.07/18/2024
Vintage Announces James Baldwin Centennial Podcast
'The Baldwin 100,' presented by Vintage Books and hosted by Cree Myles, is an eight-episode podcast series celebrating Baldwin's centenary. Featured guests include authors Roxane Gay, Robert Jones Jr., and Eddie S. Glaude Jr.07/18/2024
Hailey Dezort, Tom Flynn Launch Paratext Publicity
The Chicago-based boutique literary PR firm will work with authors, publishers, and storytellers. Previously, Dezort was a marketing manager at Kaye Publicity and Flynn handled publicity and bookseller outreach at And Other Stories.07/18/2024
Open Road Launches Industry Podcast
Open Road Integrated Media CEO David Steinberger started inviting industry members to speak to the company’s employees about important issues as a way to help bring people back to the office. Now, he's turned this practice into a podcast.07/18/2024
OUP Reports Growth in Annual Report
Amid a host of technological, social, and political changes, OUP reported a 2% gain in gross revenue over the prior year, with its profits up 12%.07/17/2024
Independent Publishers Caucus Adopts Resolution Supporting Ceasefire in Gaza
Following a June 12 vote, the IPC is calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.07/17/2024
Niko Stratis and Tuck Woodstock Launch Girl Dad Press
The independent publisher, which focuses on work by trans authors and artists, will launch with a reissue of the Lambda Literary Award–winning anthology '2 Trans 2 Furious,' co-edited by Stratis and Woodstock, on August 15.07/17/2024
Kat Aitken and Seren Adams Launch Lexington Literary
Aitken and Adams, who are based in London, have departed United Agents after nine years to start their own agency. Their clients include Caleb Azumah Nelson and Asa Seresin.07/17/2024
Inkubator Writing Conference Returns to Cleveland
Literary Cleveland’s 10th annual Inkubator Writing Conference will take place online September 16-18 and in-person September 20-21. Featured authors include keynote speaker Edwidge Danticat, Hanif Abdurraqib, and Christina Sharpe.07/17/2024
2024 Disability Futures Fellows Announced
Among the final cohort of the Disability Futures Fellowship, supported by the Ford and Mellon Foundations, are nine writers and poets, including Anne Finger and Joanna Hedva.07/16/2024
Mass Book Awards Add Categories
The Mass Center for the Book is celebrating 25 years of the Massachusetts Book Awards with the launch of two categories, a biannual prize for graphic novels or memoirs and a "Notable Contribution to Publishing" award.07/16/2024
Founding Editor and Publisher Tariq Goddard to Depart Repeater, Zero Books
Goddard, who cofounded the two U.K.-based radical imprints with Mark Fisher and has helmed them both for over a decade, will step down to focus on his own writing.07/16/2024
Daniel Mayer Appointed Interim Director at Seminary Co-op
Seminary Co-op Bookstores in Chicago has named Mayer as its interim executive director two months after Jeff Deutsch stepped down.07/15/2024
Melinda Mullin, Aly Mostel Promoted at HarperOne
Mullin and Mostel have been promoted to executive directors of publicity and marketing, respectively. Both were previously senior directors and will continue to report to HarperOne VP and deputy publisher Laina Adler.07/15/2024
Comic-Con Extends San Diego Contract By a Year
The annual convention will remain in San Diego through 2026, but concerns over soaring hotel prices still cloud its long-term future in the Southern California city.07/15/2024
Audible Rolls Out New Royalty Plan
The Amazon-owned audiobook platform has announced a change to its royalty model that it says will enable creators “to monetize more types of content” and listeners “to discover more innovative storytelling.”07/11/2024
Amistad to Release Never-Before-Published Novel by Zora Neale Hurston
'The Life of Herod the Great,' about the maligned New Testament king, is slated for January 7, 2025. The scholar and literary critic Deborah Plant, who was also behind the 2018 publication of Hurston's 'Barracoon,' is ushering the novel into publication.07/11/2024
Diamond to Distribute Dstlry
Comics publisher Dstlry has inked an exclusive, multi-year, worldwide distribution deal with Diamond Comics Distributors, effective July 15.07/10/2024
Margaret Lennon to Succeed Deborah Balmuth at Storey Publishing
Storey Publishing’s associate publisher Margaret Lennon has been named to replace current publisher Deborah Balmuth when Balmuth retires at the end of September.07/09/2024
Books Are Magic Teams with The Lynx to Bring Banned Books to Florida
Brooklyn's Books Are Magic is teaming with fellow indie bookstore The Lynx in Gainesville, Fla., to support the latter's campaign to distribute challenged and banned books throughout Florida.07/09/2024
Viola Davis, James Patterson to Cowrite Novel
The as-yet-untitled book, slated for 2025 or 2026, will be published by Little, Brown in association with JVL Media, the publishing company launched earlier this year by Davis, her husband Julius Tennon, and publisher Lavaille Lavette.07/09/2024
Bryn Clark to Join Little, Brown as Executive Editor
Clark was previously executive editor at Flatiron Books and editorial director of Melinda French Gates's Flatiron imprint, Moment of Lift. Her hiring comes just over a month after layoffs hit the Little, Brown editorial department.07/09/2024
WWB Receives Historic Mellon Grant
The $150,000 general operating grant from the Mellon Foundation is the largest in Words Without Borders' 21-year history.07/09/2024
New Name for Follett Content Group
Follett Content Solutions is the new name for the Follett business that provides a range of educational materials to PreK-12 libraries, classrooms, learning centers, and school districts.07/08/2024
Summit on Freedom to Read to Convene in Florida
Sponsored by PEN America, the National Coalition Against Censorship, and the Florida Freedom to Read Project, among others, the July 12-13 summit in Orlando will bring together teachers, activists, and authors such as Lauren Groff and Jodi Picoult.07/08/2024
Emily Griffin Joins Holt as VP, Editorial Director for Fiction
Griffin comes to Holt from Harper, where she was most recently VP and executive editor.07/03/2024
The 'Beat' to Provide Daily SDCC Coverage via New Streaming Show
The Beat, the website of comics journalism founded and run by 'PW' contributing editor Heidi MacDonald, will cover this year’s San Diego Comic-Con via a new streaming series, 'Con Daily.'07/02/2024
Ann-Janine Murtagh Launches Tall House Creative
The former executive publisher at HarperCollins Children’s UK has launched her own London-based agency focusing on content development and literary representation.07/02/2024
DK Acquires A Kids Book About Series
With this acquisition, DK takes on the global sale of the A Kids Book About frontlist and backlist catalog of more than 170 titles, establishing DK's first children's editorial team in the U.S.07/01/2024
Terrance G. Finley, Sally Kim Join Poets & Writers Board of Directors
The Books-A-Million CEO and Little, Brown publisher, as well as former Diameter Capital Partners senior analyst Alexandra Engler, are the newest members elected to Poets & Writers' board of directors.07/01/2024
Orion Appoints Franklin & Siegal as U.S./Canada Scout
The Orion Publishing Group, a division of Hachette UK, has appointed Franklin & Siegal Associates as their U.S./Canada scout, effective July 1.07/01/2024
Asaf Bar-Tura Named CEO of Literacy Partners
Bar-Tura comes to the literacy nonprofit from the San Francisco–based education nonprofit SMART, where he was executive director. He succeeds Anthony Tassi and will take the helm July 22.07/01/2024
Emma Knight Launches Literary PR Firm
The longtime publicist at Hachette UK's Hodder & Stoughton, who worked on campaigns for all of David Nicholl's novels to date, has launched her own literary PR agency, Studio 49.07/01/2024
Bookwire, IPG Ink Digital Distribution Partnership
In its biggest U.S. deal so far, Bookwire will team up with Independent Book Group, with IPG gaining access to the Bookwire OS platform and Bookwire gaining access to IPG's digital print and distribution services.07/01/2024
Book Manufacturing Mastered Slated for October
The Book Manufacturers’ Institute's annual industry event will be held on October 1 in Boston and produced in partnership with the AAP, IBPA, BISG, and PubWest, among other publishing organizations.06/28/2024
Kate Napolitano Up at Atria
Kate Napolitano has been promoted to editorial director for nonfiction, from executive editor, at Atria Books.06/27/2024
Melanie Tortoroli Promoted to Executive Editor at Norton
Tortoroli joined W.W. Norton in 2008 and, following stints at Viking and Amazon, returned in 2017 as senior editor. She was named a VP in 2023.News Brief Archive
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