HBG Big News This Week: January 28-February 1, 2019
Following is a recap of major news at Hachette Book Group for the week of January 28-February 1, 2019:
Amazing Caldecott news: Sophie Blackall’s Hello Lighthouse has won the 2019 Caldecott Medal, LBYR’s fifth Caldecott winner in the past nine years, and Blackall’s second Caldecott Medal (her first was Finding Winnie in 2015). Two LBYR authors also won Caldecott Honors – A Big Mooncake For Little Star by Grace Lin and Thank You , Omu! by Oge Mora – and Mora also won the 2019 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award, which recognizes outstanding books for young adults and children by African American authors and illustrators that reflect the African American experience. Read LBYR’s press release for more detail, including special honors for The Astonishing Color of After, Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World, and Jack of Hearts (and other parts). Congratulations to everyone at LBYR and HBG who had a hand in this extraordinary achievement!
Bestseller news: New to the New York Times bestseller list this week and charting high is Stephanie Land’s Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive (Hachette Books) at #3 on both the Print Hardcover Nonfiction and the Combined Print & Ebook Nonfiction lists. HBG has 15 books on the NYT list and our distribution clients have three books on the list this week.
Media blitz: terrific media coverage for Stephanie Land’s Maid is one of the reasons that her book debuted at #3 on the New York Times list – the author did a fascinating interview with Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air this week, a Q&A with Shelf Awareness, and has had great coverage in New York Times Book Review, USA Today, The Nation, Newsday, and the Seattle Times. Maid will be the February Hachette Reads pick, launching next week and available in lobby displays and on Bookends and HOLLi – grab a copy and dive into this moving and powerful story.
Major launch: Governor Chris Christie’s memoir Let Me Finish (Hachette Books) launched this week with an avalanche of national media – highlights include Fox’s The Daily Briefing, Hannity, The Ingraham Angle, and FOX & Friends; ABC’s Good Morning America, This Week, and The View; Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Trevor Noah; CNN’s Cuomo Primetime; CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert; MSNBC’s Morning Joe, NPR’s All Things Considered, PBS’s Firing Line, and coverage in the New York Times, USA Today, the Daily Beast, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, Associated Press, and Politico. Lots more coverage this week, and upcoming – with interviews on CNN’s New Day, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell and Chris Hayes programs, HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, and a major national tour with book events in bookstores and offsite venues.
February retailer picks: Amazon selects Whitney Scharer’s The Age of Light (LB) as one of their Editor’s Picks for February (see HBG selections in all categories here), and Apple Books also selects Scharer’s debut novel this month as a featured title. Barnes & Noble highlights James Patterson’s The Chef and Juror #3 as February selections.Abbott to Netflix: Dare Me (LB), Megan Abbott’s novel about the competitive world of high school cheerleading, will become a TV series, co-produced by USA and Netflix. Abbott will be a writer and executive producer along with Gina Fattore (Dawson’s Creek, Gilmore Girls).