US judge blocks $2.2bn Penguin Random House merger
theguardian.com – Tuesday November 1, 2022
A US judge has blocked the $2.2bn planned merger of Penguin Random House, the world’s largest book publisher, with rival Simon & Schuster.
Judge Florence Pan of the US district court for the District of Columbia said in a brief order on Monday that she had found that the justice department had shown that the deal would “substantially” harm competition “in the market for the US publishing rights to anticipated top-selling books”.
Unlike most merger fights, which are focused on what consumers pay, this one focused on authors’ earnings. The US government argued that fewer publishing houses being in competition with each other would lead to lower advances for authors across the board, but focused on a small part of the market: bestselling writers who were paid $250,000 or more.
Publishing: The Cancel Mob Targets Amy Coney Barrett's New Book | Mind Matters
mindmatters.ai – Sunday October 30, 2022
Last year, Mind Matters News covered the new phenomenon of publishing house staff going to war against the publisher’s own books. It’s a far cry from the days when publishers might have to defend their books in a courtroom. Last year the target was, among other authors, best-selling psychologist Jordan Peterson.
We were informed by Maclean’s Magazine that “Employees at Penguin Random House Canada speak out on how they’re rethinking their workplaces and why publishing, writ large, should weigh its moral responsibilities” in connection with Peterson’s latest, Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life (Penguin 2021).
The book did get published, despite them, to five star reviews. But Cancel Culture staff continue to lead the charge for “depublishing” and have succeeded with many less well known targets. Orwell Prize-winning author Kate Clanchy’s memoir was Canceled by its original publisher (though acquired by another. Blake Bailey’s biography of author Philip Roth was Canceled by W.W. Norton due to the author’s and subject’s Me Too sins. Young adult author Jessica Cluess was Canceled after she defended literary classics.
The latest attempt at big-name Cancelation is aimed at U.S. Supreme Court justice Amy Coney Barrett. Early in 2021 she was signed by Penguin’s Sentinel imprint to write a book on her judicial philosophy and the reasoning behind her decisions.
The Moth and Caterpillar magazines to cease publishing but prizes will continue
thebookseller.com – Thursday October 27, 2022
Arts and literature magazines the Moth and the Caterpillar will cease publishing next summer, its directors have announced, but the four literary prizes associated with the magazines will continue with increased prize pots.
Directors Rebecca O’Connor and Will Govan said: “We will have had 13 happy years. It feels like the right time to focus on things other than the publications.”
Govan said back issues of both magazines will be sold online so people can complete their vintage collections.
Dodd steps up at ASH Literary
thebookseller.com – Thursday October 27, 2022
Agency assistant at Saffron Dodd is being promoted to associate agent at ASH Literary, focusing on middle-grade and YA titles.
Taking up the new role on 1st January 2023, Dodd will be building her own list, prioritising UK creators, alongside agency founder Alice Sutherland-Hawes.
Sutherland-Hawes said: “Saffron joined the agency at the start of 2022 and has made a lasting impact on our clients and the work we do. Her passion and joy for the work has been wonderful to witness and I am so excited for her future with the agency. I can’t wait to welcome her clients to ASH Literary.”
25 Picture Prompts for Writing Scary Stories
nytimes.com – Tuesday October 25, 2022
Happy Halloween! Do you enjoy reading, watching or listening to horror stories? What about writing them?
To celebrate the season, we’ve rounded up 25 haunting photos and illustrations from around The New York Times that you can use as prompts to write your own terrifying tales. Choose an image and then use your imagination to write a short story or a poem inspired by it — or tell us about a memory from your own life that the picture makes you think of.
You can use these images however you like, but if you need more guidance, here are four prompts, as well as articles with advice from horror writers and experts, to get you started:
‘Terror’ stopping great work from being published in the UK, Pike warns
thebookseller.com – Sunday October 23, 2022
Arabella Pike, publishing director at HarperCollins’ William Collins, has warned that UK publishers’ “terror” is preventing “some very great work” from being published.
Speaking alongside the founder of Silkworm Books, Trasvin Jittidecharak, and Niko Pfund, president and academic publisher of Oxford University Press USA on a panel entitled “Non-fiction Publishing in the Age of Misinformation” at the Frankfurt Book Fair yesterday (20th October), Pike described the fear of being targeted as a result of a publication as “the chill factor” and argued greater safeguards were needed to prevent abuses of the British legal system such as she experienced.
“The chill factor and the fear that people have is stopping some very great work emerging,” she said. “It varies depending on which part of the world you’re in, but this is something that’s very much happening in the UK. It’s happening in newsrooms and in publishers; people are too terrified to tackle these responsibly published books.”
Amberley Publishing acquires Icon Books
thebookseller.com – Tuesday October 18, 2022
Icon Books has been acquired by Amberley Publishing for an undisclosed sum.
Amberley said the acquisition would “provide a strong addition to Amberley’s existing non-fiction catalogue” and follows its acquisition of Quiller Publishing for £1.4m in June 2021.
Icon Books was bought by Jonathan Ball Publishers in April 2020 and Amberley said this acquisition follows detailed discussions on working closely together.
Writers' Handbook 2023 now available to buy
firstwriter.com – Sunday October 16, 2022
The 2023 edition of firstwriter.com’s bestselling directory for writers has just been released, and is now available to buy both as a paperbook and an ebook.
The directory is the perfect book for anyone searching for literary agents, book publishers, or magazines. It contains over 2,000 listings, including revised and updated listings from the 2022 edition, and over 350 brand new entries.
Thuan Dang Joins APA As Agent; Lucy Tashman Upped To Director Content Development
deadline.com – Tuesday October 11, 2022
Thuan Dang has joined APA as an agent in the scripted literary department and Lucy Tashman has been promoted to Director of Content Development at the agency.
Dang represents writers and directors in feature films, TV, streaming and animation. He becomes the 15th new agent/exec APA has brought in during the past two months. Tashman began her career as an intern at APA and was promoted to agent in the scripted literary department in 2020.
Association of Authors’ Agents to focus on smaller agencies and demystifying the craft
thebookseller.com – Monday October 10, 2022
A round-table with the exec at the Association of Authors’ Agents reveals a group champing at the bit to get back to Frankfurt—and to ensure there is space there for a broader spread of talent.
I am met in the reception of 50 Albemarle Street by Marsh Agency deputy m.d. Jemma McDonagh. The grand townhouse retains its Regency elegance and its stately drawing rooms still look like the sort of places gouty periwigged men might have, over brandies, discussed how best to put down a colonial uprising. “What about a spot of genocide, m’lud?” you can almost hear a foreign office mandarin suggesting to enthusiastic assents.
The address is also a landmark in British literary history: for 190 years it was the John Murray headquarters and in one of its drawing rooms, John Murray II infamously burned Lord Byron’s memoir after the poet’s death. Murray, incidentally, paid what (if The Bookseller had been going at the time) might have termed “a significant four-figure sum” for the memoir—an eye-watering 2,000 guineas (presumably world all-languages; not clear if audio or film/TV rights were mentioned). Ever the canny operator, Murray squeezed the rights-holder (Byron’s friend, the poet Thomas Moore) to get his money back with interest.
Get the free newsletter | Submit a news item or article | Get Writers' News for your website
