HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
Carrie Kania Makes Harper Perennial Clubhouse for Losers
Most of the people who came to Camilla Morton’s book party at the Diane von Furstenberg showroom last Thursday night appeared to be models or DJs or photographers. Giselle Bündchen arrived in skintight leather pants. A man with a waxed handlebar mustache wandered about wearing glasses. One young lady had on an American Apparel leotard and platform heels that resembled nothing so much as toaster ovens.
Thirty-seven-year-old publisher Carrie Kania, who recently put out the American edition of Ms. Morton’s best-selling style book, A Year in High Heels, looked with excitement at her author’s fashionable friends, but spoke only to her colleagues from Harper Perennial, the small but proud paperback unit of HarperCollins that she has lovingly presided over since the fall of 2005. read more »
Stuff Publishers Like: Ready-Made Ideas That Package Themselves
The Stuff White People Like book that Random House published in July is still on The New York Times best seller list. Granted, it's at number 34, just one spot away from falling off (keep hanging on, The World Without Us), but still—it was less than a year ago that this thing was just a blog that some internet people thought was funny. Then in late March, Random House paid its author, Christian Lander, an advance worth upwards of $300,000 and everything changed!
Which accounts, perhaps, for how it came to pass that Zondervan, the HarperCollins-owned Christian publisher that who recently published a quickie biography of Sarah Palin, has acquired Jon Acuff's Stuff Christians Like, a "send-up of all things evangelical in America" based on a read more »
Henry Holt Names New EIC; Marjorie Braman Comes from HarperCollins
Henry Holt and Company has a new editor-in-chief. According to Publishers Lunch, Marjorie Braman, formerly an executive editor at HarperCollins, will begin September 8th. Earlier this month, The Observer's Leon Neyfakh wondered "Who's Editing Holt?" Soon enough, it will be Ms. Braman.
PL quotes Holt President Dan Farley as saying:
She is one of the leading editors in the industry and her excellent track record at Harper Collins is notable for her publishing of quality and commercial books at the same time that she has excelled as a partner for her authors and as a team player for her colleagues.
In 2005, The Observer's Sheelah Kolhatkar spoke to Ms. Braman about the then-popular trend of anthologized essay books.
Expect more on this from Media Mob and Pub Crawl as Ms. Braman begins her new role at Holt.
Why Jane Jumped: Forensics on the End Of Friedman at HC
At 11 a.m. last Wednesday morning, Jane Friedman presided over a meeting with her publishers and some marketing people on the 15th floor of the HarperCollins building in midtown. The meeting was about digital outreach, and offered an occasion to discuss ideas for how the News Corp.-owned publishing house could use computers to sell more books. This meeting, a regular thing, was held once every two or three weeks as part of an initiative called Publishing+ that Ms. Friedman started a few years ago. Last Wednesday’s meeting was devoted to discussing a podcast for BlogTalkRadio.com, as well as an original video that the publicity department had managed to place on a bunch of blogs to promote a recently published memoir about life in a polygamist cult. read more »
Knopf, FSG Lead National Book Critics Circle Award Nominees; Two Nods For Oates
The National Book Critics Circle, an organization made up of about 700 active book critics, announced on Saturday the finalist pool for their end-of-year awards, which will be held in March.
The NBCC honors books in six categories: Fiction, General Non-Fiction, Autobiography, Biography, Criticism, and Poetry.
In industry terms, Knopf leads the pack with four nominations (including three in the biography category), followed by FSG at three. The Poetry category did not include a single book published by one of the major houses.
The full list of finalists after the jump—you’ll notice that Joyce Carol Oates rather distinguished herself, getting nods in both the autobiography category and the fiction category.
HarperCollins Installs New Publisher at Collins Business Imprint
HarperCollins announced today that Hollis Heimbouch has been named vice president and publisher of Collins Business, an imprint that has put out books like Winning by former General Electric CEO Jim Welch and Reengineering the Corporation by Michael Hammer and James Champy.
Collins Business has been without a publisher since Marion Maneker left earlier this year. Ms. Heimbouch, most recently the associate publisher and editorial director of Harvard Business Press, will start on January 2.
She will report to Steve Ross, who has been the publisher of Collins, a division of HarperCollins, since this summer.
Lawyer: Judith Regan Suit Against HarperCollins, News Corp., and Friedman "Was to Be Filed Today"
Judith Regan, the book publisher who was fired from HarperCollins last December amidst controversy over her acquisition of O.J. Simpson’s If I Did It, was scheduled to file a libel and breach of contract lawsuit today against HarperCollins, its CEO Jane Friedman, and its parent company News Corporation, according to Ms. Regan’s lawyer Bertram Fields.
Mr. Fields, who is based in Los Angeles, said he is not representing Ms. Regan in the suit. He did work on the case "in the beginning," but has since handed the reins over to Brian Kerr of New York-based firm Dreier LLP. (Gawker posted an anonymous letter earlier this afternoon incorrectly stating that the firm Milberg Weiss is handling the case.)
Mr. Fields said Ms. Regan’s suit “was to be filed today” but could not confirm that it actually was.
News Corp. spokesman Andrew Butcher said News Corp. was not aware of the suit.
“We don’t have it,” he said. “We haven’t seen any suit.” read more »
Murdoch Mulls Journal-HarperCollins Alliance
Add another item to the list of changes that the Murdoch era could usher in for The Wall Street Journal. read more »
The Transom
The Transom
Cheap Prada Knockoff, With Judith Regan as Devil
The Second Time Around, It Doesn’t Seem So Brave
The Summer Doldrums
The Summer Doldrums
If You Build It, They Will Come— Hot in Publishing: Platforms!
If You Build It, They Will Come- Hot in Publishing: Platforms!
Twee Grows in Brooklyn
Back on the Raunch
Satirist’s Keen Talent Targets Motherhood Gone Badly Wrong
Satirist's Keen Talent Targets Motherhood Gone Badly Wrong
Toodle-oo, Book-Club Babes: I Want to Read Again!
What Is Depression? A Loss of Identity, Feeling of Being Trapped
What Is Depression? A Loss of Identity, Feeling of Being Trapped
Who's Answering the Phone?
Results of phone calls to offices of publishing executives as of 4 p.m. on Friday, August 12:
Daniel Menaker, executive editor-in-chief, Random House: no answer
Bill Thomas, editor-in-chief, Doubleday-Broadway Publishing Group: no answer (voice mail indicated he's on vacation until August 29th)
David Hirshey, executive editor, HarperCollins: no answer
Sonny Mehta, editor-in-chief, Knopf: no answer
Nan A. Talese, publisher, Nan A. Talese/Doubleday: no answer
Morgan Entrekin, president, Grove/Atlantic: no answer
Happy weekend, publishing industry! Tune in next Friday, when the survey will move one hour earlier.
--Sheelah Kolhatkar read more » Remembering Rosie: A Brave Single Mother Ahead of Her Time
Famous, Infamous Jane-Confusing Life a Real Workout
A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing? Neo-Nazi Joins Anti-Hate Group
The Extra Editor
Whispered in Your Ear, A Moral Man's Good Word
Justice Is Blind-Must It Be Soulless, Too?
An Embarrassment of Riches Makes 'Maximizers' of Us All
Fear of Book Assasination Haunts Bibliophile's Musings
On the Road No More: Book Tours Are Over
Aesthetics in the Ascendant-Isn't It Pretty to Think So?
Pile On, Publishers! Dueling Titles Hit the Shelves
Publishers, Open Your Books! We Know the Numbers Lie
The Last Book Scout
Koufax Vs. DiMaggio: Will Lefty Outscore Yankee Rival?
The Scourge of the 'Booboisie,' Briskly, Judiciously Measured
Finding Solace in Flight 93: Courage in the Thick of Chaos
The Eight-Day Week
Model, Teen and Terrorist Face a Culture of Appearances
Husband's Helper Wanted-Must Be Docile and Energetic
Wurtzel's 'Feminist' Agenda: Snagging Male Approval
The Nobel Mystery Man and His Deep Daoist Novel
Ingraham Boomerang Zings Clinton Bashers
Unsolving JonBenét's Murder-Absent Narrative, Chaos Rules
Former Designer Carolyne Roehm Makes a Cottage Industry Out of Flowers
Sammy the Bull Gravano Isn't Squealing All the Way to the Bank
