FIYAH has posted their 2022 #BlackSpecFic Report, published as “an examination of the state of representation of Black authors within the speculative short fiction market published in 2021.”
The report looked at 63 markets examined in an earlier 2015 study, and found that only 26 were still fully active. The report continued with a list of 131 markets that met the requirements of being operational as of 2021, publishing in ...Read More
Read more
Macmillan has extended its “hybrid & remote-friendly” policy through the end of 2023, allowing employees who can do their jobs remotely to “have the flexibility to choose the number of days per week they work in the office, or choose to work fully remotely.”
Jon Yaged, CEO, says,
Two things are clear: people want flexibility and we continue to live in uncertain times. So, we’ll continue what has been working ...Read More
Read more
Diana M. Pho has joined Erewhon Books as executive editor, according to a press release sent out today. Pho said:
I’ve had the joy of witnessing Erewhon since its launch by the intrepid Liz Gorinsky. It’s a true dream come true to join an ambitious house with a beautifully growing list and Sarah Guan’s keen publishing vision. Working with writers to create great stories has been my lifelong passion. I ...Read More
Read more
The proposed merger between Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster has unraveled. On November 22, 2022, S&S parent Paramount Global filed with the SEC and confirmed they were terminating the agreement. Paramount is entitled to a termination fee of $200 million.
PRH parent company Berteslmann issued a press release that says, “Bertelsmann will advance the growth of its global book publishing business without the previously planned merger of Penguin ...Read More
Read more
Esquire has announced a 22-title list of the best Horror books of 2022.
Their top five titles are:
For the full list of titles, see the Esquire post.
While you are here, ...Read More
Read more
Audible has announced “The 12 Best Sci-Fi Listens of 2022”:
JEFF VANDERMEER’s literary interests are now represented by Joe Veltre of the Gersh Agency, who was already his film and TV agent. VanderMeer has also joined the Gersh Speakers Bureau as a client. Alex Kohner of Yorn Levine provides additional representation as VanderMeer’s entertainment attorney.
DEREK KÜNSKEN is stepping down as programming co-chair of Can*Con, Ottawa’s literary SF/F conference, after 11 years working on the conference. Co-chair MARIE
Publishers Unnamed Press and Rare Bird have jointly opened North Figueroa Bookshop, an independent bookstore in Highland Park, Los Angeles.
The bookstore opened November 9, 2022 and aims to “connect the independent publishing community with readers, booksellers, authors, and book lovers.”
For more information, see their website.
©Locus Magazine. Copyrighted material may not be republished without permission of LSFF.
While you are here, please take a moment to support Locus ...Read More
Read more
Entangled Publishing announced a new romantic fantasy and science fiction imprint, Red Tower Books. Red Tower “will champion feminist and empowered perspectives in the fantasy and science fiction space, while also enfolding in what Entangled Publishing does best…romance.”
Red Tower has planned seven titles for 2023. Their press release lists The Last One by Rachel Howzell Hall, The Wren in the Holly Library by K.A. Linde, Bloodguard by Cecy Robson, ...Read More
Read more
Following their earlier statements, the HarperCollins Union began their strike today, forming an in-person picket line as well as posting to social media. The strike was originally scheduled for November 7, but was delayed until after Election Day. This is the second strike action this year: the union held a one-day strike on July 20, 2022. This time the union plans to picket until they secure a new contract.
Calls ...Read More
Read moreJudge Florence Pan has now issued her full decision blocking the proposed merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster, following her brief announcement last week.
Her 80-page decision reveals that she had significant reservations about the merger from the start, and did not find the PRH and S&S arguments in favor of the deal convincing. Her conclusion reads,
The government has presented a compelling case that predicts substantial ...Read More
Read more
Judge Florence Pan has ruled in favor of the Department of Justice, blocking the proposed merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster.
According to Reuters:
Judge Florence Pan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said in a brief order that she had found the Justice Department had shown the deal may substantially lessen competition “in the market for the U.S. publishing rights to anticipated ...Read More
Read more
Katherine Tegen, the vice president and publisher of the Katherine Tegen Books imprint at HarperCollins Children’s, is retiring in December 2022. The imprint will continue under a new name, yet to be announced.
Tegen began working for HarperCollins in 1984, at Harper & Row Junior Books. After stints at Houghton Mifflin and Disney, she rejoined HarperCollins in 2001 and launched her own imprint in 2003. Her authors included Veronica Roth ...Read More
Read more
The HarperCollins Union has voted to go on strike for the second time this year if their concerns are not addressed; the latest strike date is November 7, 2022. The Union held a one-day strike on July 20, 2022. You can read their latest statement here.
The employees of HarperCollins have been unionized for over 80 years, and are part of Technical, Office and Professional Union UAW Local 2110. They ...Read More
Read more
Distributor Baker & Taylor spent over two weeks with their operations offline after they were targeted in a ransomware attack around August 20, 2022, crippling their ability to process orders. Their systems were restored in September, with a statement saying,
Bringing our systems back online safely and securely has been a top priority. Our internal technical teams with the support of external cyber-security experts have brought our servers and applications ...Read More
Read more
MARYANN HARRIS, artist, musician, and wife of Charles de Lint, became ill on September 6, 2021 with encephalitis, and was eventually diagnosed with the rare, tick-borne Powassan virus. She spent eight months in intensive care before being transferred to a complex care facility, where she is on a ventilator and almost entirely paralyzed. Fundraising efforts are underway to defray the considerable costs; details, and updates on her condition,
HarperCollins has let 12 staffers go across adult and children’s divisions and instituted a hiring freeze, citing “cost pressures.” In a statement to Publishers Lunch, the company said,
The business is facing continued cost pressures, including price increases related to printing, production, freight and distribution, and we are taking decisive steps to operate as efficiently as possible. As part of this process, we have made some difficult decisions and a ...Read More
Read more
Kensington Publishing has acquired Erewhon Books, which will continue as a Kensington imprint. Sarah Guan will continue to lead the imprint, and the rest of the Erewhon team will continuing working under the new owners.
Kensington President and CEO Steven Zacharius said,
The diverse, high-quality list Erewhon has built and the level of support they’ve been able to offer their authors as a small, but effective and passionate team is ...Read More
Read more
The Horror Writers Association (HWA) has announced the results of the election for its open officers’ positions. John Edward Lawson was elected President, and Becky Spratford was re-elected Secretary. Linda Addison, James Chambers, and Ellen Datlow were all re-elected to the Board of Trustees.
The election team volunteers were Rhonda Jackson Joseph, Nicole Kurtz, and Lisa Marie Wood. The Ballot Master was Angel Leigh McCoy, and the election verifiers were
Ring of Fire Press, the publishing company founded by the late Eric Flint, is closing. Flint’s widow Lucille Robbins posted:
Our Fellow Members of the Ring of Fire Press Family,
It has taken the staff and the family to both assess and absorb the sad passing of our friend and mentor, Eric Flint. In the wake of his passing, we have looked at the financial realities of the publisher 1632, ...Read More
Read more
Amazon has announced changes to a controversial policy which allowed readers to return ebooks for an automatic refund within seven days of purchase, whether they’d read the book or not. Once the new policy is implemented, automatic refunds will be limited to books where under 10% of the book has been read.
A statement from the Authors Guild said,
The Authors Guild is proud to report that our discussions with ...Read More
Read more
With Jo Fletcher stepping down from Jo Fletcher Books, the imprint she founded 11 years ago, Anne Perry will be taking over as publishing director.
Quercus fiction publisher Cassie Browne says of the hire:
We are all completely over the moon to be welcoming Anne to Quercus Fiction as the new imprint head of Jo Fletcher Books.
Anne’s reputation as one of the very best in the SFF community is ...Read More
Read more
WENDY N. WAGNER is now represented via Lane Heymont of The Tobias Agency.
IDZA LUHUMYO’s “Five Years Next Sunday”(Disruption) won the £10,000 Caine Prize for African Writing, “awarded for a short story via an African writer published in English,”presented July 18, 2022 at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
MONICA BYRNE’s The Actual Star (Harper Voyager) won the 2022 Manly Wade Wellman Award, ...Read More
Read more
The lawsuit filed by the US Department of Justice to stop the proposed merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster went to trial on August 1, 2022, with Judge Florence Pan presiding. The trial included expert testimony from a wide variety of authors, agents, and publishing professionals. Closing arguments took place on August 19. A ruling is expected in November. The fundamental question is whether the merger will ...Read More
Read more
RUDY RUCKER sold his literary archive to the Special Collections of the UCR Library at UC Riverside. “The Rudy Rucker Archive includes marked-up drafts of forty books, story drafts, letters, videos, audio, scientific papers, rare ’zines, and email.” Henry Wessells of James Cummins Bookseller negotiated the deal with Cherry Williams and Andrew Lippert of UCR.
JESMYN WARD will receive the 2022 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction ...Read More
Read more
Online magazine Daily Science Fiction, which also delivers stories to subscribers via email every weekday, is going on hiatus after 12 years. Editors Michele-Lee Barasso and Jonathan Laden wrote to subscribers on August 11, 2022:
Hi. Many of you have noted that we’ve been closed for story submissions for a bit. Many more of you (our most loyal supporters–Thank you!) noticed that today we just canceled automatic renewals for the ...Read More
Read more
Tom Doherty Associates, a division of Macmillan, is rebranding as Tor Publishing Group, effective immediately.
President and publisher Devi Pillai said, “Although the Tor name has always been associated with science fiction and fantasy, our list has included titles beyond that genre since our inception. With this name change and continued growth, the Tor name will now stand for quality in various types of genre publishing, with each imprint representing ...Read More
Read more
The lawsuit filed by the US Department of Justice to stop the proposed merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster has gone to trial this week.
Publishers Weekly has been covering the case: Monday featured opening arguments and testimony by Hachette CEO Michael Pietsch for the government, giving an overview of the book business and discussing how the merger would have a deleterious effect on competition.
Tuesday’s proceedings ...Read More
Read more
Disney Publishing Worldwide is shifting its global sales and distribution services to Penguin Random House Publisher Services (PRHPS), effective April 1, 2023. Disney will also expand their subsidiary Marvel Publishing’s existing partnership with PRHPS. Disney is leaving their partnership with Hachette Book Group, which has distributed Disney books since 2013.
French media conglomerate Vivendi now owns just over 55% of Lagardere, parent company of Hachette Book Group, having purchased 11 ...Read More
Read more
Publisher Dana Canedy is stepping down from Simon & Schuster’s adult imprint after two years to focus on writing her next memoir (out from S&S in 2024). She was the first Black woman to ever hold the position. CEO Jonathan Karp will take over her position “for the foreseeable future.”
Karp says Canedy “has improved and bolstered the Simon & Schuster imprint in innumerable ways: by attracting incredibly talented authors ...Read More
Read more
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) has “launched the first wave of resources for Indie Pub 101, a new section of the SFWA.org website.”
Whether veterans of traditional publishing or brand-new authors with debut books in hand, independent authors, also known as self-publishing authors, must take on the multiple roles of designer, publisher, and publicist, which can be daunting. Indie Pub 101 will help! Its first three sections ...Read More
Read more
QUENTIN BLAKE, SALMAN RUSHDIE, and MARINA WARNER all received the High Award Companion of Honour distinction in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. IAN RANKIN received the Knights Bachelor distinction, while JOANNE HARRIS and MICHAEL FOREMAN received the Officer of the Order of the British Empire distinction for services to literature. JAMES DAUNT, head of Waterstones in the UK and CEO of Barnes & Noble in the US, received ...Read More
Read more
