Also Straining Her Desktop Capacity
Also from Publisher’s Lunch, Jo Ann Miller is now editorial director for Basic Books’ Basic, Basic Civitas, Counterpoint, and Westview Press ventures. Basic Books
Meet The New Job
Publisher’s Lunch tells us that Laurie Rippon of Harper Design International has added the title “publisher” to her resume. Because you never truly leave your old job behind (as we know far too well), she’ll keep on keeping on with her duties as SVP/Creative Director. Harper Design International
Manga Manga Everywhere
We hate to think bad thoughts (mostly), but we are getting concerned about the flood of manga publishers out there. Sure, we love the stuff, but is it possible that in jumping on a trend, the industry has, well, already hit the saturation level? We ask this in all sincerity as yet another manga publisher is established. We also ask this after our recent trip to a big ole bookstore filled with racks of manga…and we were the only person shopping in the section. Dallas Middaugh (Del Rey — he’ll be staying on with the company even as the venture
Picking Our Way Through The News
It took us a few tries, what with mornings not being our best time of day, but we think we have it: HarperCollins is changing the way it does business. Whew! All of those words for such a simple concept. If we have this straight (and there’s no way of knowing for sure), HC will be bringing more of the activities it traditionally outsourced, like ancillary rights, in house. This means these ventures have proven sufficiently profitable, mainstream, if you will, to merit the creation of internal infrastructure. For HC, this means they won’t be getting royalties from third parties
Okay, One More
Those who recall our fall fashion edition (written sometime in summer, we were feeling bold and brash with our predictions) will recall that this season’s books are bigger and heavier than ever before. Sort of of like adorable chunky sweaters only you probably won’t be wearing them everywhere. Back strain is simply no fun. While this season’s must-haves include Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and anything, including vintage, from the Neal Stephenson line, there is something special for those who wouldn’t be caught dead in the same books everyone else is carrying. Paul Anderson’s Hunger’s Brides, which, at 1,376 pages,
On The Road
We still haven’t looked at yesterday’s news and were barely able to skim this morning’s. We did try to play one of the Internet’s many debate drinking games, but things backfired almost immediately. We sent the husband off to open a bottle of wine, thinking he’d immediately head for the Two-Buck Chuck. We gave up hopes of overindulging because what he heard, bizarrely, was, “Please open the most expensive bottle on the rack — the one we keep around just in case we have to impress a serious wine snob.” Now we have to acquire another dummy bottle of we-drink-this-stuff-all-the-time
Says It All
We could paraphrase and pull out favorite thoughts, but sometimes it’s better to just let you read for yourselves. A Sense of Vocation
Celebrate in Your Favorite Way
We know you’re not counting on us to remind you about Banned Books Week — which is good because somehow it’s Thursday and we just took our first glance at a calendar this week (which is not to say we haven’t seen calendars on the preceding days…we just happened to spend our hours poking and prodding at calendar theory). If you’re a reader of any note, you already celebrate this week in the style to which you’ve grown accustomed. Probably, if you’re like us, by doing something like reading while eating. We mostly don’t understand the concept of banning books
Separating Fact from Fiction
If you are to poll women about men in fiction (which you don’t have to do, because, helpfully, this has already been done), you will find, not surprisingly, a large number of votes for Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. Cherry Potter, writing for the Guardian, thinks this confuses modern men — and perhaps modern women. We doubt women are mislead, but we feel it incumbent upon us to explain life as we know it: there is reality and there is fiction. Reality often involves verbal faux pas and laundry. Fiction involves verbal faux pas intentionally and laundry if it’s
Yes, Yes, We Understand
It’s rather embarrassing to admit, but we had no idea that Rona Jaffe wrote a novel. Our exposure to her was through celebrity profiles. It’s always cool to learn something new about someone you have put into a slot. Suddenly, they don’t fit and you get to change all sorts of things around in your mind. Learning that Jaffe gives back to her community is also cool — authors don’t get the patronage they deserve (we are advocating for a system where up-and-coming artists are kept, in a manner of speaking, freeing them to do the art thing without worries