HBG Big News This Week: January 29-February 2, 2018
Following is a recap of major news at Hachette Book Group for the week of January 29-February 2, 2018:
Bestsellers: HBG has 14 titles on the New York Times Bestseller list dated February 11, including one #1—All American-Murder by James Patterson and Alex Abramovich with Mike Harvkey (Little, Brown) debuts at #1 position on the Sports and Fitness (Monthly) list. HBG’s distribution clients have four titles on the list this week. See attached for the complete list of HBG and client titles. HBG has 11 titles on the USA Today bestseller list, see the full list here.
#1 Spring 2018 Kids’ Indie Next Pick: Jewell Parker Rhodes Ghost Boys (LBYR) has just been selected the #1 Spring 2018 Kids’ Indie Next Pick. Take a look at the stunning praise from indie booksellers (attached). This is LBYR’s second #1 middle grade pick in a row, impressive!
Moon turns 45: For Moon’s 45th anniversary, the Moon team designed a special cover for Publishers Weekly’s January 22 travel issue; both Rick Steves and Moon are highlighted in the issue and hailed as two of three “leaders of the [travel] pack” along with Lonely Planet. The extensive interviews featured publisher Bill Newlin, entrepreneur and author Rick Steves, and author of Moon Belize and Moon Belize Cayes, Lebawit Lily Girma—the article is attached. Rick Steves is busy promoting Travel as A Political Act (Avalon), with coverage in the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, USA Today, and the National Book Review, as well as an appearance on CBS This Morning’s podcast.
B&N Discover Awards: Barnes & Noble announced the six finalists for the 2017 Discover Great New Writers Awards, and GCP has a nonfiction finalist – Down City: A Daughter’s Story of Love, Memory, and Murder by Leah Carroll. Winners will be announced on March 7.
Agatha Award: Margaret Maron’s final novel, Take Out (GCP), has been nominated for an Agatha Award in the Best Contemporary Novel category. See the full list of nominees here. Winners will be announced in late April.
TV news for Stephenie Meyer: Tomorrow Studios will develop a TV project based on Stephenie Meyer’s The Chemist (L,B). Stephenie Meyer and Meghan Hibbett will produce via their Fickle Fish Film banner (Austenland).
Villanelle to BBC America: Luke Jennings’s Villanelle series is coming to BBC America this spring—and Mulholland will now publish Codename Villanelle on April 3. BBC America will premiere Killing Eve, a brand new series based on the Villanelle novels, starring Sandra Oh. USA Today, Elle, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, and Variety all reported on the show, with mention of Jennings and the Villanelle series.
Amazon picks: Amazon editors’ February picks include two from PublicAffairs—Surveillance Valley by Yasha Levine and The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist by Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington—and two from Forever—Zero Hour by Megan Erickson and Driftwood Cove by Debbie Mason. See the full list here.