“Godine at Fifty,” showcasing some 300 of David Godine’s favorite books from his career, is an autobiography of sorts and an elegy for a kind of publishing. Read more
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Category: Publishers
Millions of Followers? For Book Sales, ‘It’s Unreliable.’
Social-media fandom can help authors score book deals and bigger advances, but does it translate to how a new title will sell? Publishers are increasingly skeptical. Read more
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Vermont Publisher Chelsea Green Sues Sen. Warren for ‘Suppressing’ Book
Vermont publisher Chelsea Green has filed a federal civil lawsuit claiming that U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) stifled free speech when she called on Amazon to curb the spread of COVID-19 misinformation and cited one of Chelsea Green’s books as a source of “dangerous conspiracies.” Read more
Justice Dept. Sues Penguin Random House Over Simon & Schuster Deal
The Biden administration on Tuesday sued to stop Penguin Random House, the largest publisher in the United States, from acquiring its rival Simon & Schuster, as part of a new drive in Washington against corporate consolidation. Read more
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Knopf Names Jordan Pavlin Its Editor in Chief
Ms. Pavlin, a longtime editor at the publishing house who has worked with Ayana Mathis, Tommy Orange and Yaa Gyasi, succeeds Sonny Mehta, who died in 2019. Read more
‘If publishers become afraid, we’re in trouble’: publishing’s cancel culture debate boils over
…the debate over what should be published has reached a fever pitch. Publishing staff who feel uncomfortable about working on certain titles are speaking out more often and more loudly, through open letters and on social media. In April, more than 200 employees at S&S in the US asked their employer to pull out of a seven-figure book deal with former vice president Mike Pence. Authors, too, have withdrawn titles when their publishers sign writers they disagree with… Read more
Fred Jordan, Publisher of Taboo-Breaking Books, Dies at 95
At Grove Press, he and Barney Rosset challenged censors as they popularized D.H. Lawrence, Henry Miller, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and others. Read more
Publishers Draw Fire for Signing Trump Officials
Kellyanne Conway, Mike Pence and William Barr have book deals. That is raising new challenges for publishers trying to balance ideological lines with a desire to continue representing the political spectrum. Read more
Simon & Schuster won’t distribute book by officer from Breonna Taylor raid
Simon & Schuster announced it will not distribute a book written by Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, who took part in the fatal Breonna Taylor apartment raid. Read more
Top French publishing house asks would-be authors to stop sending manuscripts
Successive Covid-19 lockdowns in France have given budding writers the time to finally work on that idea for a novel or to polish up an old manuscript languishing in a drawer. As a result, publishers are overwhelmed. Before the pandemic, Gallimard received around 30 manuscripts a day; now they receive around 50. Read more
