Skyhorse Is Buying Regnery Publishing
publishersweekly.com – Saturday December 23, 2023
Salem Media Group’s sale of its Regnery Publishing division, which was said to be dead in late November, has been revived. On December 21, Skyhorse Publishing announced that it had signed an agreement to purchase Regnery, one of America’s best-known publishers of conservative authors. Terms were not disclosed.
“We are so pleased to acquire this legendary publishing company, founded over 75 years ago, and are committed to building on the strong foundation that the Regnery staff has developed,” said Skyhorse president and publisher Tony Lyons in a statement. Regnery, which has a list of about 1,550 titles, will become an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing and will maintain its own identity, Skyhorse said. According to Skyhorse, Regnery’s sales in 2023 are projected to be approximately $10 million.
Farnham Literary Festival launches ‘First Five Thousand’ writing competition
petersfieldpost.co.uk – Thursday December 21, 2023
Farnham Literary Festival has launched a new ‘First Five Thousand’ writing competition.
Writers aged 18 and over are challenged to submit the first 5,000 words of their novel with a 300-word synopsis. The work does not have to be finished.
One lucky winner will receive £100 and a literary critique of their work, the runner up will get £75 and three shortlisted entries will receive £50.
The judging panel consists of Louise Morrish, BA Paris, Gill Thompson and Melanie Whipman.
Romance publishers to launch string of 'spicy' books aimed at TikTok users
itv.com – Thursday December 21, 2023
The popular romance publishers Mills & Boon are set to launch a string of "spicy" books targeting TikTok users.
From 2024, two titles will be released each month under the umbrella series, named Afterglow, starting in January.
Afterglow will offer “a trend-led, trope-filled list of books with diverse, authentic and relatable characters, a wide array of voices and representations, real world trials and tribulations, all the tropes you could possibly want," says Katie Barnes-Wallis, marketing director at Mills & Boon.
This includes "small-town settings, fake relationships, grumpy versus sunshine, enemies to lovers - and all with a generous dose of spice in every story”.
According to the Mills & Boon website, it sells a romantic fiction book every ten seconds, but it's yet to capture the hearts of contemporary readers.
Begum joins Greyhound Literary as literary agent
thebookseller.com – Monday December 18, 2023
Salma Begum, formerly an editor at Bonnier Books UK, has joined Greyhound Literary as a literary agent, starting today, 18th December.
Begum has also worked for Picador, where she acquired debut authors and worked on the poetry list, and The Good Literary Agency, where she represented a number of emerging talents.
Founder and director Charlie Campbell said: "The last two years have been the most enjoyable and fulfilling of my career and that is down to the colleagues and writers with whom I work."
Co-owner and director Sam Edenborough said: "We’re so proud to welcome Salma to the Greyhound team. Her superb eye for great writing and her excellent network put her in an ideal position to find talented new clients. I can’t wait to get to work selling translation rights for her writers as she develops her list."
PRH acquires independent self-help publisher Hay House
thebookseller.com – Thursday December 14, 2023
Penguin Random House has acquired independent self-help and wellness publisher Hay House.
Nihar Malaviya, c.e.o. of Penguin Random House, and Reid Tracy, c.e.o. of Hay House, announced the acquisition on 12th December 2023 but the terms of the deal were not disclosed. The news comes just two months after PRH UK announced its acquisition of Hardie Grant’s UK publishing business.
Currently a client of Penguin Random House Publisher Services (PRHPS), Hay House will now be able to "further leverage" the resources capabilities of PRH, a press statement said. It will retain its editorial and publishing independence and Tracy will continue to run Hay House as its c.e.o. post-closing. No changes are planned for its London, New York and Carlsbad offices or its management and employees.
Janson-Smith leaves Gleam to start new agency
thebookseller.com – Tuesday December 12, 2023
Agent Oscar Janson-Smith has left Gleam Futures to start his own agency.
Janson-Smith joined the agency in December 2021 after three years as an agent at Kruger Cowne, and was promoted to senior agent in March this year.
Over his two years at Gleam he sold 35 books, translated into 15 languages, with two titles becoming Sunday Times bestsellers. He also promoted new areas for Gleam such as fantasy, finance, craft, cookery and children’s.
Janson-Smith said: “It’s been a busy few months, so this is a delayed announcement, but it’s one that I’m very happy to be making. After a wonderful couple of years with Gleam, I had quite a few offers on the table — but once I’d got this idea into my head, it was hard to get it out again.
Granite Noir short story competition launched to ‘unearth’ and celebrate north-east talent
pressandjournal.co.uk – Tuesday December 12, 2023
A brand new writing competition in the spirit of Granite Noir has been launched to encourage budding north-east writers.
Have you ever fantasised about the murky world of crime or how best to carry out a murder? Hypothetically of course.
If the answer is yes, Granite Noir might have a new challenge to put your shady skills to the test.
The popular Scottish crime writing festival is returning in February with another year of impressive events but with a delightful twist.
For the first time, a short story writing competition has been launched.
Crime creatives from all over the north-east will have their chance to put their hand at creating a work of suspense and intrigue.
For Sharon Burgess, chief executive of Aberdeen Performing Arts (APA), she hopes this will be a chance to “unearth” – not bodies for all you murky-minded people – but rather talent.
Burnham-On-Sea Book Festival 2024 writing competitions are now open for entries
burnham-on-sea.com – Monday December 11, 2023
Burnham-On-Sea Book Festival’s 2024 writing and book-cover competitions are now open for entries.
The 2024 festival – which is set to return from May 17th-19th – is inviting local people to get involved with the new competitions.
Sponsored by Burnham’s best-selling crime author Damien Boyd, entries are now open and close on midnight March 4th, 2024.
Book festival treasurer Jonathan Pinnock says there has been a change this year to the competitions: “Damien has upped the prizes in the children’s categories, hoping to inspire more young people to write. We’ve also made the decision to offer £100 to the winner of the book cover competition.”
“There are competitions for short-story writers and poets in three age categories: 11 and under, 12 – 18, and 19+ (Adults); the book cover competition is open to all ages. There’s a maximum of three entries per author/illustrator in each category.”
Nosy Crow announces multi-year Unicorn Academy publishing deal
thebookseller.com – Saturday December 9, 2023
Nosy Crow has announced a multi-year deal for Unicorn Academy, covering a wide range of formats to be published in the next decade.
Kate Wilson, group c.e.o. of Nosy Crow, worked with Katie Woolley, Nosy Crow’s head of brands and licensing, to buy publishing rights for children’s books in all languages, excluding German, from Spin Master Entertainment. Nosy Crow’s first TV tie-in novelisation, Sophia’s Invitation, was published in October, in time for the global launch on Netflix on 2nd November.
The series is adapted from books originated and published by Nosy Crow, written by Julie Sykes and Linda Chapman and published in North America by Penguin Random House.
6 Non-Obvious Book Publishing Trends From 2023
inc.com – Saturday December 9, 2023
Across hundreds of nonfiction books published this past year, several big themes emerged. Here are six of the most significant -- and why they will matter in 2024.
One of the upsides of having hundreds of books sent to you for an awards program is that you have a chance to look at everything that was published over the past year in an aggregate form.
As we considered titles for the Inc. Non-Obvious Book Awards this year, there were some macro themes that stood out across multiple books that offer a window into the collective zeitgeist of the past year.
For the past several years, spotlighting these trends has been a part of our annual recap of books. Last year, some of our themes from the year included #emergefromcovid, #talktoanimals, and #underappreciatedwomen. In previous years, themes included #kindness, #overload, #endbias, and #corruptwinners. Each one encompassed multiple books from multiple publishers.
This year, we spotlighted six themes and included an overview of each one -- and the books included in them -- as part of our shortlist announcement show. Here they are, in no particular order:
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