Publishers and Editors

Perhaps it’s our faulty memory, but didn’t Pearson’s, parent of Penguin, among others, have a bit of a distribution problem this past year? So much so that authors were angry because they missed major sales? Or was this whole thing just a figment of our overactive imagination? Not that we begrudge a well-deserved raise to anyone…it’s just that in day of corporate scandal we like to make sure everything is on the up and up. And so it seems. The company came close to achieving its goals (warehouse-related incidents aside) and is on target to get its finances in order. […]

Much like a Neal Stephenson novel, the Miramax/Disney publishing story is trying to end. Every natural concluding point stops just story of completion and we turn the page wondering where we’ll be taken next. As it’s just another phase of corporate shenanigans, things aren’t very interesting and we’re posting this now because the chances of our retaining interest much longer are somewhere in the nil to none range. According to Publisher’s Weekly and other sources, the deal, when it’s finalized, will end up like this. Bob and Harvey Weinstein will start a new publishing venture. As we previously predicted (the

We have a bit of a squidgy feeling about this and cannot pinpoint why: In a bid to foster a new generation of book buyers, Random House is investing in a private company that promotes literacy using a system that encourages children to read on their own and with their parents. It’s not the program. We believe that the way to build readers is to allow them to read for pleasure as often as possible, and American Reading Co.’s 100 Book Challenge strikes us as a good thing. We cannot fault Random House for its investment — this is the

Everyone celebrates April Fool’s Day in a different manner. Last year (and we wish we were kidding), the husband called us into his office, oh pretty much every five minutes, to share yet another example of wacky CSS gurus having fun. The joke went over our head. This year, in lieu of geek fun, we have two headlines from the Canadian press. On one had, we learn that Canadians buy a lot of books. On the other, we learn that a major publisher is scaling back for economic reasons. We are pleased that Canadians are spending more on books than

Though we’ve lost all track of time and space, we vaguely recall pointing out an interesting survey of United Kingdom reader, or rather, not-so-much readers, oh round about last week or so. Reasons for not devouring the printed word ranged from price, ease of acquisition, and not finding something that spoke to them. Michael Cader got his hands on the full report, and after highlighting some of our favorite items (“Some books are much thicker than others, yet cost the same. It makes you wonder why.”), offers constructive thoughts on rectifying the situation. Probably he has the same level in

All manner of fun over HarperCollins way as they strive to build the Collins brand into a household name. Granted, we’re not entirely sure how moving experienced editorial staff to and fro will accomplish this goal, but we have faith that someone has a master plan. So here’s what we know: Matthew Benjamin is now Collins senior editor. Knox Huston (great name) moves to assistant editor. Libby Jordan previously moved. We can only hope this new braintrust will take what we consider to be the first and most important step in building a brand: creating a (halfway) usable website. All

Far be it for us to offer advice on how a publisher should conduct business, but we believe there should be a modicum (a modicum!) of experience when it comes to evaluating, oh, writing talent, marketability, and such. Those are traits we have encountered with many editors. The (we presume) press release reprinted by ABC News regarding Simon & Schuster’s new imprint and editor does not cite Mary Matalin’s previous editorial experience, and perhaps we are overemphasizing this as a trait, because, “There have been sentiments throughout the company for creating a conservative imprint,” said David Rosenthal, executive vice president

Mad Max, apparently over his Elvis Costello foray (may we recommend following up with Tom Waits or perhaps the Pogues if Max is feeling poetic), considers the plight of the unsung publishing rainmakers. Hmm, that felt like our tongue in our cheek, but our intention was almost sincere. Max says: Another double-page NYTBR ad for Danielle Steele? Full pagers for James Patterson…John Grisham…Nora Roberts… Robert B. Parker…Lisa Scottoline…Michael Connelly…Jackie Collins? They’re done because, well, because that’s what’s done. But–and meaning no disrespect to any of these fine individuals–where are we as an industry going to be a decade from now

Yesterday, Susan Gable said something that struck us what some might call a Missed Opportunity. In response to our thoughts on bigger books with bigger prices, Susan noted that she found out about her publisher’s large print editions of books from…Amazon. Now, we formerly worked in the motion picture industry and are quite accustomed to learning things like “Hey, we just sold the company” via Daily Variety, but that’s a different story. The movie business exists to crush peons. But authors are different. By necessity and custom, they are self-promotional machines. If publishers tell their authors about all the cool

It’s certainly not easy to do, let us tell you, but Peter Olson sees things our way. Larger formats and higher prices may not be the key to enticing readers: “The acceptance of that format with that particular size and at those price points is so great, it would be a major change if readers gravitated to something different at this point,” Olson said. “You’re looking at a very attractive product from a media point of view,” he added. “It’s a lot of hours of reading for a very little amount of money.” That and bigger books mean even bigger