BEA 2010: Editors' Picks at Day of Dialog
Also, the impact of social networking on marketing.
Francine Fialkoff -- Library Journal, 05/26/2010
On a panel yesterday hosted by LJ Prepub guru Barbara Hoffert, four editors from major houses gave their 20 faves (see below) for the coming fall/winter season, and threw in a couple of spring/summer titles too. Hoffert was familiar with many of the titles (listed below), having already written about them in LJ's Prepub Alert.
In addition to pitching titles for which they have high hopes, Hoffert asked the editors how websites and social networking on blogs, Twitter, and the like are affecting publishing.
The conversation starts early
"Now," said Ballantine Bantam Dell editor-in-chief Jennifer Hershey, "the conversation [about a] book begins even before the book is published." It can help position a book, change the print run, put writers in front of readers, even end up changing the flap copy on the cover.
"It's a marketing opportunity that didn't exist five years ago," said Minotaur editorial director Kelley Ragland. "It helps to show [the powers that be] that the author has a fan base."
As for any negative impact of ebooks and e-reading, HarperCollins publisher Liate Stehlik noted the explosion in teen fiction and said, "A good narrative is still generating readers [even if they're reading] on an iPhone."
Amy Einhorn, VP and Publisher, Amy Einhorn Books: Penguin Group (USA)
Mark Mustian, The Gendarme (September) Penguin sales reps' pick.
Siobhan Fallon, You Know When The Men Are Gone (Winter): connected short stories by a military wife, set in Ft. Hood, TX; "a major literary event."
Eleanor Brown, The Weird Sisters (Winter): The sisters’ motto: “There is no problem a library card can’t solve.”
Eric Poole, Where's My Wand? (May)
Jennifer Hershey, Senior VP, Editor-in-Chief of Ballantine Bantam Dell
Anne Fortier, Juliet (Ballantine, August)
Stephen Hawking, The Grand Design (Bantam, November): His biggest book since A Short History of Time; it asks the big questions, like 'Why do we exist?'
Lee Child, 61 Hours & untitled Jack Reacher novel (Bantam, May, October): the year of Reacher, two in one year.
Justin Cronin, The Passage (Ballantine, June)
Laura Hillenbrand, Unbroken (Random, November): remember Seabiscuit; a much more gripping story.
Kelley Ragland, Editorial Director, Minotaur Books
Nevada Barr, Burn (August)
William Ryan, The Holy Thief (May)
Louise Penny, Bury Your Dead (September): "So much better than what I thought were her A-level works already—and I'm not her editor."
Charles Finch, A Stranger in Mayfair (November): a cross between Sherlock Holmes and Lord Peter Wimsey.
Julia Spencer-Fleming, One Was a Soldier (Winter): you know which one. Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne are back.
Chelsea Cain, untitled (Winter)
Liate Stehlik, Senior VP, Publisher, HarperCollins
Tom Franklin, Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter (Morrow, October)
Charles Todd, An Impartial Witness (Morrow, September): Todd's second book in his second series on Bess Crawford, World War II nurse.
Conor Grennan, Little Princes (Morrow, January): Three Cups of Tea meets Into Thin Air, as Grennan tries to reconnect Nepali orphans with their families and finds himself.
Laura Lippman, I'd Know You Anywhere (Morrow, August)
Sena Jeter Naslund, Adam & Eve (Morrow, October): "She never writes the same thing twice, but there is always a strong woman at the heart of her books."
