Saturday, January 28, 2017

Trade News at Publishers Lunch

Today's Meal


At Chronicle Books, Madeline Moe has been promoted to production developer, food and lifestyle.

Bernd Leukert has joined the supervisory board of Bertelsmann. He is the executive board member at SAP responsible for products and innovation at SAP. Chairman Christoph Mohn notes in a statement: "He is a digital thought leader with outstanding professional expertise, especially in the areas of innovation management, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things. As a member of the executive board of an important global software group, he will be able to give Bertelsmann excellent advice and support in the identification of new opportunities for growth in the digital age."

Francis Greenburger tells his "How I Got Started" narrative in Fortune. His real estate company has assets valued at $4 billion, but he started working for his father Sanford's literary agency: "At 14, I represented Bertelsmann, a German book club, in buying American books to distribute in Germany. My dad wanted to avoid a conflict with another German publishing house he represented, so he told Bertelsmann I could help them. [He didn't mention I was 14.] I looked 18, so people assumed I was older. I would buy hardcovers for 50¢—at the point when they were being sold in paperback and nobody was buying them anymore in hardcover—then sell them for $1.25."

Simon & Schuster is staging a Book Club Matinee at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York on March 11, featuring authors Anthony Doerr, Isabel Allende, Lisa See, Lisa Genova, Ruth Ware and Megan Miranda.

Closing
Amazon notified participants in Write On by Kindle -- their answer to Wattpad, which came out of beta in early 2015 -- that the service will close in two months: "While we have been proud over the last few years to have brought together such a vibrant, active, and creative community, unfortunately we will be closing Write On's doors on March 22. After this date, access to Write On will be unavailable."

No comments: