BTW News Briefs

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Our Boston to Benefit The One Fund

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has acquired Our Boston: Writers Celebrate the City They Love, edited by Andrew Blauner, and will donate all proceeds to The One Fund to support Boston Marathon bombing victims.

The anthology, publishing October 1, features essays about Boston by authors including John Updike, Pico Iyer, James Atlas, and Susan Orlean.

Gary Gentel, president of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade Publishers, cited the company’s deep roots in the Boston community and desire to make a meaningful contribution to the fund.

Preliminary World Book Night Statistics Revealed

World Book Night has announced the initial numbers on giving trends from this year’s April 23 event. The major locations visited focused on schools, particularly GED and ESL classes, and health or service organizations, notably food pantries and shelters, in addition to general locations in givers’ towns. The “around town” category included mass transit stops, bowling alleys, hair salons, record stores, ice cream stands, and airports, among others.

WBN Executive Director Carl Lennertz reported that the involvement of community college students had markedly increased and there was a doubling in the outreach to prisons.

Publishing Triangle’s Annual Awards Presented

The Publishing Triangle’s 25th Annual Triangle Awards, honoring the best of 2012’s gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, were presented on April 25.

The winners are:

• Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction: Monstress, by Lysley Tenorio (Ecco/HarperCollins)
• Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction: Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
• Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction: Eminent Outlaws, by Christopher Bram (Twelve/Hachette)
• Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry: Looking for the Gulf Motel, by Richard Blanco (University of Pittsburgh Press)
• Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry: Song and Spectacle, by Rachel Rose (Harbour Publishing)
• Ferro-Grumley Award: A Horse Named Sorrow, by Trebor Healey (University of Wisconsin Press)  

In addition, John D’Emilio was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Leadership Award went to NEA Director of Literature Ira Silverberg.

AAUP Lists “Books for Understanding: Chechnya”

The latest Books for Understanding list from the Association of American University Presses (AAUP) offers 26 titles to help Americans understand the culture and history of Chechnya in light of the Boston Marathon bombings.

Books for Understanding is a free public service of AAUP that helps readers find relevant books based on current events. 

MacAdam Cage Founder David Poindexter Dies

After a three-month battle with cancer, David Poindexter, founder of independent publishing house MacAdam Cage, passed away Monday, April 29, at the age of 59.

Poindexter started MacAdam Cage in 1998 and brought in authors including Audrey Niffenegger, Craig Clevenger, Mark Dunn, and Ann Pearlman. At the time of his death, Poindexter had been seeking to sell the company, and his family will continue in those efforts.

Poindexter leaves behind his wife Emeigh and children William Macadam Poindexter and Elizabeth Cage Poindexter.

HarperCollins Launches Digital Mystery Line Witness

William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins, is launching a digital-only mystery line called Witness. The suspense and thriller line will debut in October 2013 with 10 titles. The website will launch later this year with excerpts and opportunities to interact with authors.

The titles will be published via the Impulse Digital Publishing platform, which publishes digital versions of titles from William Morrow, Avon Books, and Harper Voyager US.

In a release, HarperCollins said, “Even though these books are digital-first, the HarperCollins sales group is always seeking out opportunities in print, working with key retail accounts to execute tailored promotions in physical stores. To date, more than 60 percent of Impulse titles have a print format, with thousands of printed copies sold for each of those books.”

Down East Books Sold to Rowman & Littlefield

Down East Enterprise has sold its book division, Down East Books, to Rowman & Littlefield in a sale effective April 1. The sale was needed in order to grow the business, said Down East President and CEO Bob Fernald. Roman & Littlefield is the parent company of National Book Network, which distributes Down East Books’ titles.

The sale includes imprints Down East Books, Shooting Sportsman Press, Fly Rod & Reel Books, and Countrysport Press. Not affected by the sale are Down East Magazine and the company’s calendar business. Down East Books is maintaining its Rockport offices in Maine and the three-member staff.

Hachette Makes E-book Catalog Available to Libraries

Hachette will be making its e-book catalog available to libraries beginning next week through vendors OverDrive, 3M, and Baker & Taylor. The announcement follows a successful pilot project.

New e-books will be made available the same day as print books are published. Patrons will be able to check the copy out, one at a time, with an unlimited number of uses each year. For the first year, the e-book will be available for the library at approximately three times the cost of the print book, with the price dropping by half in subsequent years.