Karen Fox - Market News

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Sourcebooks has hired Leah Hultenschmidt as senior editor in their New York
office, acquiring romance and YA projects for their Casablanca and Fire
imprints. She was editorial director at Dorchester.

While you may not have a lot of inherent faith in their methodology, Forbes has released their new list of guesses at how much the most successful authors made over the 12 months ending June 1:

James Patterson ($70 million)
Stephenie Meyer ($40 million)
Stephen King ($34 million)
Danielle Steel ($32 million)
Ken Follett ($20 million)
Dean Koontz ($18 million)
Janet Evanovich ($16 million)
John Grisham ($15 million)
Nicholas Sparks ($14 million)
JK Rowling ($10 million)

8/20/2010: (Publisher's Lunch) Ratifying the idea that Dorchester isn't innovating with their digital only/first approach so much as clinging to survival, the company laid off editor Don D'Auria and editorial director Leah Hultenschmidt (who confusingly tried to persuade PW that they were just skipping print iterations for a little while). Chris Keeslar is reportedly the remaining editor at the company.

Dorchester Publishing has switched to subsistence mode, though they have tried to sprinkle some digital fairy dust over the move. The mass market publisher has struggled for some time, now. At the beginning of the year they sold both frontlist and backlist titles from many of their top authors to Avon--an imprint of their distributor, HarperCollins. Earlier this summer, the Romance Writers of America reportedly cancelled Dorchester's participation in their annual conference because the company was "past due in fulfilling contractual obligations to some of their authors." And company president John Prebich confirmed to the media last Friday that their retail sales fell 25 percent in 2009 (before they sold off top properties.)

So the company is giving up on functioning as a traditional print publisher. In a last-ditch effort to subsist, they will now issue all titles to the trade as ebooks only. Dorchester has laid off their sales force of seven people, and will work with Ingram Publisher Services to distribute POD versions of some titles. Romance titles have been successful for years in ebook form, so the company may find some strength there. But for now this a story about a genre mass-market publisher retreating rather than a bold digital initiative.

Hard Case Crime owner Charles Ardai tells the WSJ he may move his imprint's distribution as a result, which makes sense. "It's been a good run, but if they aren't publishing mass market paperbacks, we'll have to decide what to do."

8/4/2010 (from Publisher's Lunch) Weronika Janczuk has joined D4EO Literary Agency, looking in particular for single-title romances as well as commercial and literary fiction. Before working with Bob Diforio, she interned and worked freelance for a number of agencies.

Agent Colleen Lindsay says she is leaving FinePrint Literary Management for an online job at Penguin.

4/13/2010: (from Publisher's Lunch) Today Random House took the next step set in motion from the companywide reorganization in late 2008, consolidating the Ballantine and Bantam Dell lines into a new, single from within the Random House Publishing Group--finally has an answer. This morning RH group head Gina Centrello announced the consolidation of the two lines in a new Ballantine Bantam Dell group. Libby McGuire will run the merged group as svp, publisher, as Bantam Dell evp, publisher and editor-in-chief Nita Taublib leaves the company. Read more.

1/15/2010: Chelsea Gilmore joined the Maria Carvainis Agency as an agent on Jan. 4. Kensington Publishing appointed Alicia Condon, formerly with Dorchester, to succeed Kate Duffy as editorial director of Brava Books. Kerry Donovan has been promoted to editor at NAL.

1/20/2009: (from Publisher's Lunch)
Harlequin Drops Brand from Self-Publishing Line, As Criticism Continues
Harlequin has continued to suffer criticism from multiple fronts for their new self-publishing program, and while they have not altered the offering itself, they are removing the name Harlequin from the line.

CEO Donna Hayes said in a statement replying to the Romance Writers of America's declaration that the publisher would no longer be eligible for certain resources at the organizations conference: "We are changing the name of the self-publishing company from Harlequin Horizons to a designation that will not refer to Harlequin in any way. We will initiate this process immediately. We hope this allays the fears many of you have communicated to us."

Hayes expressed surprise and dismay at the RWA's notice, particularly "before allowing Harlequin to respond or engage in a discussion about it with the RWA board." And she added, "It is disappointing that the RWA has not recognized that publishing models have and will continue to change. As a leading publisher of women's fiction in a rapidly changing environment, Harlequin's intention is to provide authors access to all publishing opportunities, traditional or otherwise."

But bestselling author Nora Roberts was among those who continued to oppose the spirit and practice of the program itself, in a variety of comments at Smart Bitches: "Vanity press is called vanity for a reason. You're paying for your ego. That's fine, dealer's choice. But it's a different matter when a big brand publisher uses its name and its resources to sell this as dream fulfillment, advertises it as such while trying to claim it's not really their brand being used to make money on mss they've rejected as not worthy of that brand in the first place."

Roberts added in another comment: "it's deceptive vanity.... Taking the Harlequin name off is important, but it doesn't address what Horizons is, or all those links on their website, or directing rejected authors to Horizons as another channel to publication, and so on."

Both the Science Fiction Writers of America and the Mystery Writers of America also issued statements criticizing the new venture. The SFWA is concerned that the new venture's "sole purpose appears to be the enrichment of the corporate coffers at the expense of aspiring writers." They have declared that "NO titles from ANY Harlequin imprint will be counted as qualifying for membership in SFWA."

The MWA has even broader concerns, saying that they wrote to Harlequin on November 9 to express dismay over a separate paid offer, the "eHarlequin Manuscript Critique Service," suggesting the "removing mention of this for-pay service entirely from its manuscript submission guidelines, clearly identifying any mention of this program as paid advertisement, and, adding prominent disclaimers that this venture was totally unaffiliated with the editorial side of Harlequin, and that paying for this service is not a factor in the consideration of manuscripts."

11/18/2009: In response to Harlequin's announcement of its self-publishing venture, RWA has removed Harlequin's recognized publisher status. For more information, visit the RWA website.

11/17/2009: From Publisher's Lunch. Harlequin is launching a self-pubilshing venture known as Harlequin Horizons. More information is available at their website: http://www.harlequinhorizons.com/

11/9/2009: Harlequin has announced the creation of a digital-only publishing house separate from their other traditional publishing business, Carina Press. eBooks will be sold direct to consumers through the Carina Press Web site and numerous third-party Web sites. Carina Press will publish a wide range of women's fiction -- romance, erotica, science fiction, mystery, family sagas, choose your own adventures, horror, thriller and more, including every conceivable subgenre of these categories.

Carina Press is currently accepting submissions in all genres of commercial fiction. Carina Press willconsider shorter stories, genre novels of 50,000 to 100,000 words and longer, and complex narratives of over 100,000 words. Carina Press will also acquire books that have been previously released in print form, but for which the author has either retained digital rights or had digital rights revert to them. All submissions should be sent to submissions@carinapress.com. Carina Press plans to launch in summer 2010 and will release new titles on a weekly basis.

10/21/2009: From Publisher's Lunch: Agent Amy Tipton has left FinePrint Literary Management to join Signature Literary Agency.

10/19/2009: From Publisher's Lunch: Kara Cesare is joining Gallery Books as executive editor in November. She has been at NAL.

9/29/2009: From Publisher's Lunch: Kensington editor Kate Duffy, 56, died recently after a long illness. Among the many honors she received, Duffy won the Romance Writers of America's inaugural Industry Award in 1991. Her long career as a romance editor included serving as founding editor of Silhouette Books and founder of Harlequin's Worldwide Library imprint and Pocket's Tapestry Books, while at Kensington she established Brava Books. A memorial service will be scheduled soon.

9/28/2009: Via Susan Wiggs -- Kate Duffy, Editorial Director at Kensington Books has passed away. She will be greatly missed.

9/1/2009: From Publisher's Weekly: Two editors at Pocket, including editorial director Maggie Crawford, and an editorial assistant at Simon Spotlight Entertainment were laid off last week, the Observer reports.

1. Roberta Brown
2. Kimberly Whalen
3. Laura Bradford
4. Jennifer Schober
5. Kevan Lyon
6. Natasha Kern
7. Pamela Harty
8. Emily Sylvan Kim
9. Deidre Knight
10. Karen Solem

1. Cindy Hwang
2. John Scognamiglio
3. Deb Werksman
4. Kate Seaver
5. Audrey LaFehr
6. Diana Ventimiglia
7. Melissa Endlich
8. Susan Pezzack-Swinwood
9. Ann Leslie Tuttle
10. Kate Duffy

Romance Deals

The Making of a Duchess author Shana Galen's LORD & LADY SMYTHE, about married in-name-only nobles who also happen to be Regency England's most preeminent - but currently unemployed -- spies; when both are contacted about the same job, their secret identities are accidently revealed to each other and more than just the competition heats up, again to Deb Werksman at Sourcebooks, by Joanna MacKenzie and Danielle Egan-Miller at Browne & Miller Literary Associates (World). -- Publisher's Lunch 9/2/2010

Insatiable author Lauren Dane's next two contemporary erotic romances and next futuristic erotic romance, again to Leis Pederson at Berkley Heat, in a three-book deal, for publication in beginning Fall 2011, by Laura Bradford at Bradford Literary Agency (World). -- Publisher's Lunch 9/2/2010

Golden Heart winning author, Cat Schield's A CASE OF MEDDLING, where a young oil heiress is determined to thwart the meddling instincts of her father as he tries to negotiate her "happy ever after", even though her intended is the man she had once dreamed of marrying, to Charles Greimsman at Silhouette Desire, by Kevan Lyon at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency (World). -- Publisher's Lunch 9/1/2010

Bonnie Winn's TEXAS TWOSOME and ROSEWOOD RESCUE, again to Melissa Endlich at Harlequin Love Inspired, in a three-book deal, by Danielle Egan-Miller at Browne & Miller Literary Associates (World).-- Publisher's Lunch 9/1/2010

Roxanne St. Claire's DON'T YOU WISH, in which a middle-class, under-popular, painfully average teenage girl wakes up in an alternate universe where her mother married a wealthy man and her every wish has come true -- with complications, to Stephanie Elliott at Delacorte, for publication in 2012, by Robin Rue at Writers House (NA). -- Publisher's Lunch 9/1/2010

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