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KIT & VESPER & JOYCE, YAY!

Kit Grindstaff’s debut novel hits the bookshelves on April 9th and she is having a Book Launch Party on the evening of April 19th from 7 pm- 9pm at The Doylestown Bookshop 16 South Main St, Doylestown, Pennsylvania 18901. If you live in the area, it would be great if you could stop by and help Kit celebrate. Big Congratulations to you. I wish you the best of luck with the book. Kit said, “And the book’s publication is SO much due to your teaming me w/Michelle Poploff at the 2010 conference!” That is music to my ears.

Vesper Stampers new picture book In The Hall of The Mountain King. Vesper will be signing her book at the New Jersey SCBWI June Conference, but if you aren’t attending you can get one with this link: http://www.allisonflannery.com/buy-book/ Congratulations, Vesper! Love how successful you have become. Versper was featured on Illustrator Saturday in Aug 2011.  Here is the link: http://wp.me/pss2W-39y

Joyce Wan signed a contract with Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Macmillian for her picture book WHALE IN MY SWIMMING POOL that she wrote and illustrated. It was a two-book deal, sold to editor Janine O’Malley by her agent Teresa D Kietlinski at Prospect Agency. If you attended the 2010 Writer’s Retreat in Princeton, you may remember the story, since that is the one she brought with her.  Congratulations, Joyce. We are so proud of your success.

Joyce will be teaching a workshop on Branding this June at the NJSCBWI annual conference. Don’t forget to register. www.regonline.com/njscbwi2013conference

Christian Trimmer will join Simon & Schuster Children’s as senior editor on April 15. Previously he was senior editor at Disney-Hyperion. GOOD LUCK!

Emily Graff has been named associate editor at Simon & Schuster. CONGRATULATIONS!

Other Industry News:

San Francisco-based publisher of science fiction & fantasy Night Shade Books, which has been struggling financially for several years, indicated in a letter to authors and agents earlier this week that the company plans to sell its assets to Skyhorse (as well as another entity, Start Publishing LLC.) The catch is that the sale cannot happen unless “a sufficient number of Night Shade authors agree to certain changes to their contracts.” Alternately, Night Shade will file for bankruptcy or liquidation proceedings.

In the letter, Night Shade explains their financial difficulties were exacerbated by Borders’ liquidation, so much so that they “have reached a point where our current liabilities exceed our assets, and it is clear that, with our current contracts, sales, and financial position, we cannot continue to operate as an independent publisher.” They claim the potential sale to Skyhorse and Start Publishing “will result in authors getting paid everything they are due as well as finding a future home for their books,” while the “revenue received from the sale would go towards paying off the debts of the company.”

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America originally supported the possible deal in a letter to members, saying “it was in our members’ best interests to encourage the deal to go through” because otherwise, liquidation could tie up contracts and owed royalties for years, if they are ever paid out at all. Should the asset transfer happen, Skyhorse would publish Night Shade titles under a dedicated imprint, with co-owners Jeremy Lassen and Jason Williams staying on in consulting editorial roles.

But a number of Night Shade authors, including Jeff Vandermeer and Kameron Hurley, said they would not sign off on the new terms. So everything continues to hang in question.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy