Maidment steps up to agent at Madeleine Milburn
thebookseller.com – Thursday September 30, 2021
The Madeleine Milburn Literary, TV & Film Agency has promoted Olivia Maidment to literary agent to build its literary fiction list.
Formerly associate agent, Maidment will be working alongside founder, director and agent Madeleine Milburn, m.d. Giles Milburn as well as agents Hayley Steed and Hannah Todd in the adult fiction department.
After graduating with a degree in English literature and classical civilisation from the University of Birmingham, Maidment’s first experience of publishing was with an internship at the agency. She then went on to roles at the Blair Partnership and United Agents before re-joining Madeleine Milburn as associate agent in 2020, working closely with Milburn across her roster of authors whilst also building her own list.
Price swaps Trapeze for DK
thebookseller.com – Monday September 27, 2021
DK has appointed Marleigh Price in the new role of acquisitions editor, responsible for narrative non-fiction in the publisher's Life division.
She will start on 11th October and report to Katie Cowan, publishing director for Life.
Price was previously at Trapeze, where she has been since Orion first launched the imprint in 2016. She has a strong reputation for building a diverse, robust and inspirational list, having acquired and published numerous Sunday Times bestsellers, including Redhanded by Suruthi Bala and Hannah Maguire, and Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Murdered by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Her list at Trapeze also focused on amplifying voices and topics that have historically been underserved by the publishing industry, with titles including Mixed/Other by journalist Natalie Morris, White Tears/Brown Scars by Ruby Hamad and The Way We Survive by Catriona Morton.
Deepzen partners with Ingram for AI Audiobooks
goodereader.com – Sunday September 26, 2021
Audiobooks are the fastest growing segment in digital publishing and it is an expensive proposition for authors who want to do an audio edition of their eboook. It costs thousands of dollars to hire an independent narrator who has their own studio in their office. Publishers often spend double or triple, since they book studios where sound engineers and narrators work in concert and can cost $10,000 or more. Deepzen is hoping to disrupt this business model with their AI audiobooks.
Deepzen is a bit different from other AI audiobook projects. DeepZen’s AI voices are licensed from voice actors and narrators, capturing all of the elements of the human voice, such as pacing and intonation, and a wide range of emotions that produce more realistic speech patterns. They are benchmarked against human narration, and are a world away from the robotic, monotone, voice assistants with which we are all familiar.
Darley Anderson takes on US-focused agent Langton
thebookseller.com – Friday September 24, 2021
The Darley Anderson Children’s Agency has appointed Becca Langton to focus on the US children's market.
Langton has previously worked as a development editor for Pottermore, a consultant for the BBC and, most recently, as a literary scout for Sylvie Zannier for the past five years.
She will start her new role on 11th October and will be the first point of contact between US editors and Darley Anderson agents Clare Wallace, Lydia Silver and Chloe Davis. She will also be building her own list of US-focused clients.
‘Fight Club’ Author Chuck Palahniuk on Why He’s Publishing New Novel Via Substack
sg.news.yahoo.com – Tuesday September 21, 2021
Best-selling author Chuck Palahniuk is joining Substack, he announced Monday, and will be releasing his new novel, “Greener Pastures,” in installments on the platform. The serialized fiction novel will be part of a broader output called “Plot Spoiler,” making him the latest media and literary figure to join the burgeoning newsletter subscription service.
In a call with TheWrap, Palahniuk declined to discuss any financial terms, but said he was approached by Substack after last year’s “Consider This” memoir got “a ton of podcast attention” and great reviews.
Publishers, Amazon Ask Court to Dismiss ‘Illogical’ E-book Price-Fixing Suit
publishersweekly.com – Monday September 20, 2021
In separate filings late last week, lawyers for the Big Five publishers and Amazon asked a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit accusing them of a conspiracy to fix e-book prices.
In their September 17 filings, lawyers for Amazon and the Big Five publishers insist there is no evidence of any coordination or agreement among them to fix e-book prices or otherwise restrain competition. Perhaps more importantly, they argue, the alleged conspiracy—in which the five largest American trade publishers are alleged to have banded together to give Amazon monopoly power over e-books—fundamentally makes no sense.
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