Publishers and Editors

There is nothing new in the announcement from Harlequin Mill & Boon regarding their increased commitment to providing audiobooks to consumers, except, well, this: Starting in March 2006 HARLEQUIN MILLS & BOON will publish four titles every second month in abridged CD format, featuring stories from its bestselling Modernâ„¢ Romance and Historical Romance series. Abridged? They’re seriously going to abridge these things? Given the length of the novels, doesn’t it seem like it would be more work to make them shorter than to read them in their entirety? We will never understand the minds of publishers. Harlequin Mills & Boon’s […]

Sure, publishing is a slow business, but don’t tell that to people running the show. Once again, we remind you that this information is only good for today. Always check with primary sources before assuming an editor or agent is still in the house. Pamela Dorman moved to Hyperion to create a new imprint. Said as-yet-unnamed imprint will target female readers 35 and older. Fiction and non-fiction. Makes us feel sorry for those on the cusp of 34. Katie McHugh will abandon Three Rivers Press for Marlowe & Company as an editor. Publisher’s Lunch says that “Tina Pohlman will not

Publisher’s Lunch announces that Geoffrey Kloske has ankled Simon & Schuster for Riverhead. PL also hints that in addition to high quality books and a brilliant editing mind, Kloske might be augmenting his staff with a woman soon. We don’t know why that’s important, but are feeling particularly useful at the moment, figuring it matters to someone. In other publishing news, it seems like everyone is playing musical offices this week. A quick scan of headlines in our inbox reveals: Anjali Singh of Vintage moving up to senior editor. Tina Pohlman becoming editorial director at Houghton Mifflin. She’ll oversee the

Okay, we shouldn’t make fun. Much. But PW just got around (yesterday) to noting that Mad Max has been revealed. And we thought we were behind the curve because we were six hours late in discovering the news. You live, you learn. You now know it’s Dan Conaway. As he’s already proven himself to be a regular internet user, it makes sense, though we preferred thinking of Max as a mysterious, magical being. What doesn’t make sense, if we may, is this: “I’m stunned that anybody at a senior editorial level—let alone someone with [nine year-old] triplets—had the time to

It is no secret that publishing is a commercial endeavor, but often editors like to pretend it isn’t. If you had to publish a roman a clef written by Nicole Richie, you’d want to live in an alternate reality, too. Jeremie Ruby-Strauss has skipped the inner turmoil that marks an editor’s rite of passage, and is wholeheartedly embracing his commercial mandate. Kensington’s new imprint, Rebel Base Books, is targeted directly, well, at guys like Jeremie: The imprint comprises books based on humor websites. We didn’t set out to exploit an underserved demographic, we just ferreted out opportunities where we could,

We’re a little sad that we didn’t hear it from Richard Nash directly (nary a word on his blog even, but clearly a man can’t do everything all at once), but we know how busy publishing moguls can be. Besides the news is everywhere, it wasn’t like we were going to miss the announcement. Soft Skull Press has entered into a mutually beneficial alliance PopMatters. The new baby will be called PopMatters Books Imprint. But we’ll let them explain the union in their own words: The PopMatters Books Imprint will extend the discussion and documentation of global pop cultural matters

New York Publisher. Sounds so big, doesn’t. All those bright lights and tall buildings. Lunches at Michael’s with your incredibly hip (and incredibly young) editor. Both of you are wearing black. It’s slimming and repels city grime. But is a New York publisher right for you? Maybe you’d like someone willing to take a risk. Maybe you’re looking for a personal touch. Maybe you’re looking for someone like Kathy Pories of Algonquin Books. She’s looking for you, especially if you have passion for your work. I think we have such a proliferation of well-trained and well-schooled writers these days who

We are continuing to sift through the backlog of stuff we meant to post, and this interview with George Hodgman stood out. Such is the beauty of a backlog — you can pick and choose your path*. Hodgman is executive editor at Henry Holt, and his dream is to edit. Really edit. Also write cover copy. His other interests involve avoiding forms with numbers and skipping overly long motivational meetings. We made that last one up, but since everyone hates overly long motivational meetings, it seemed like a good guess. While all editors seek talent they can grow old with,