Random House has relieved Ann Godoff of her “duties as publisher/editor/patron saint of serious writers.
To some, Godoff’s send-off signals another loop in the downward spiral of literary publishing; to others it’s strictly a business decision – the division under her guidance was not making enough money.”
Category: publishing
Random House Purge – End Of An Era
“The decision by Random House Inc., a division of Bertelsmann and the largest consumer book publisher in the world, to merge the Random House Trade Group with its sister unit, Ballantine Books, startled the literary world. The Random House Trade Group, along with its internal rival, Knopf, was one of the few publishers that combined literary prestige, financial resources and marketing power.”
US Government Demanded Borrowing Records From 545 Libraries Last Year
The American Patriot Act allows the US government to require public libraries to hand over patrons’ book-borrowing and Internet-surfing records to investigate terrorist leads. “It also prohibits library staff from publicizing law enforcement requests for such materials.” A study of 906 libraries by the Library Research Center at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign finds “that in the year following the Sept. 11 attacks, federal and local law enforcement agents visited at least 545 libraries to inquire after patrons’ records.” And were records turned over? About half the bibraries complied with the orders.
First Gay Bookstore To Close
The Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop, in New York’s Greenwich Village, was already a success by the time the Stonewall Riots gave rise to the modern gay rights movement in 1969. But this month, the bookstore, which is believed to have been the world’s first to specialize in gay and lesbian literature, will shut its doors for the last time. Many gay bookstores have been closing in the last decade, ironic victims of the more open society they helped to create, in which gays and lesbians no longer feel the need to hide in self-contained communities, and general-interest bookstores often have gay and lesbian studies sections.
Growth In Used-Book Sales
Let’s look at the used-book business. Since 1993 the used-book business has grown substantially. But “between 2000-2002, there was a 4.8% decrease in the number of open shops.” Why? Though the business continues to grow, the internet is accounting for more sales.
The New Harry In June
The latest installment in the Harry Potter series will be on sale June 21. “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will be released on a Saturday so that young fans do not have to skip school to buy it on its first day. More than a third of a million copies of the last Potter book were sold on its first day of release in July 2000 as Potter mania swept the UK.”
State Of The Book Biz – Circa 2002
What sold? Familiar names…”John Grisham, James Patterson, Danielle Steel, Stephen King and Mary Higgins Clark had a total of 15 books on last year’s hardcover fiction charts; that’s 16.6% of all available slots in the course of the year.” The five biggest publishers accounted for 77 percent of all books on the Bestseller lists…
The New Yorker’s New Fiction Editor
Deborah Treisman has taken over as fiction editor of The New Yorker. So how is her style different from Bill Buford, who just left the job after nine years? “We—probably 80 percent of the time— agree. And so in those 20 percent of stories it feels as though there’s a different reason for each one. But it’s never that he likes men writers and I like women writers. We both are drawn to different things in different stories. So I’m sure that things will start to feel a little different. But I’m actually looking forward to finding out how. And also, you know, neither of us works alone. There’s a whole department and we do sit around and discuss things endlessly and argue about them.”
National Book Critics Circle Awards Nominations
This year’s shortlist for the National Book Critics Circle Awards is announced. “Reversing the usual trend, the critics’ picks were better known than the National Book Awards, which are voted by fellow writers and were awarded in November.”
University Press Editors – Gatekeepers To Academia
To get tenure at a big university, a young professor must publish books. “Recently, chief academic administrators have begun to demand that candidates for tenure publish two books, not just one, because more is somehow better; they actually don’t give a damn which presses churn out all these unreadable, uninspiring volumes.” But if books are the admittance pass, the book gatekeepers – editors of the university presses – have amazing power over the careers of academics. Is this a good development?