Booksquare

Before we get into MediaBistro’s interview with Hyperion editor Zareen Jaffrey (whom some of you may remember from Red Dress Ink), we have to puzzle over one of the more odd book titles we’ve encountered this week: Desperate Housewives Cookbook. Now if this were, oh, the fifties, we’d be thinking, ah, a cookbook for a […]

Wondering what May Chen of Avon/HarperCollins is seeking in a writer? We knew you were. We’ll give you a little hint: it starts with good, ends with writing. It’s really difficult to be specific about what qualities I’m looking for. It’s a synergy of several general components: the writing is clean, the voice is compelling, […]

In a move that should strike fear into the hearts of all authors, Penguin in Australia is moving to cut author royalties on second, third, and subsequent editions of their work. Australian authors traditionally receive a 10% royalty on all editions — oddly, Penguin wants to penalize authors for selling lots more copies of books. […]

Because we love to point out how right we are, there is this: In a deal that will substantially increase its presence in the conservative Evangelical market, Simon & Schuster has acquired Howard Publishing for an undisclosed price. S&S Buys Howard Publishing

If one is paying attention, one would realize that religion and sex remain the hottest gotta-have publishing imprints. Today we bring you sex — Avon has entered the erotica market with a new imprint called Avon Red. Give us a moment while we resist an urge to make a bad lipstick joke. Okay, we’re back. […]

As you might have suspected, the publishing industry continued to work very hard this week. We anticipate, barring any unforseen circumstances, that this torrid pace of productivity will continue through approximately next Tuesday with a sharp drop-off around Friday and absolutely nothing happening the following Monday. Anything we missed this week, we’ll catch next week. […]

In other Time Warner Books news (yes, we know, we didn’t mention the sale, but not because we don’t care; we are engaged in a new process for such news), MediaBistro interviews Kristen Weber editor at Mysterious Press and Warner Books. We’re going to end the suspense now: Mysterious Press, for those who aren’t reading […]

And here is publishing world round-up for this week: James Freyed by agent who sez ‘trust broken’ – Kassie Evashevski of Brillstein-Grey dumped James Frey. Turns out he lied to her, too. Kate Rogers moves to Mountaineers Books as editor-in-chief. National Lampoon Plans to Yuk it Up in Print – National Lampoon, not satisfied with […]

Though we do not have time to check our archives (in fact, we are not entirely sure where we keep our archives, though something tells us they’re in that place we’re supposed to “clean out”), we believe we have volunteered to sit down with the brass at Harlequin and offer our free advice. We believe […]

If we were Scholastic (and evidence suggests we are not), we would be doing everything in our power to build a trusting relationship with the little kids who make our publishing venture strong. We would be squeaky clean and bend over backwards to make sure that parents are not off-put by our very name. We […]