Thursday, April 01, 2010
To celebrate its 30th anniversary—and have a little April Fool's Day fun—Tor Books recently took a tongue-in-cheek staff picture in front of its offices in the Flatiron Building, NYC. President and publisher Tom Doherty is in the center of the shot. We assume the flying saucer and serpent demon are photoshopped in. Are you surprised by the number of staff required to be a publisher? Those people are the reason why Tor has won the Locus Magazine poll for best science fiction publisher every year since 1988, and as of early 2009, they have produced 157 prize-winning novels. BookBuffet went online to learn more about this successful niche publisher. Fantasy and Science fiction are not just the reading fodder of teenaged boys. With a stable of over 100 authors they represent such notable writers as Cory Doctorow, Steven Erikson and Kathleen Ann Goonan. There are 15 editors on staff to keep up with the job of reviewing manuscript submissions, selecting and working up properties suitable to the house. Tor Books is one of two imprints of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, based in New York City. They also publish mainstream fiction, mystery, and occasional military history titles under its Forge imprint.
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Granta magazine is a literary quarterly from the UK that is turning 30 this year, and they’re asking you to help them celebrate by purchasing a subscription to GRANTA. Digital subscriptions fees have been wound back to 1979 for an annual cost of £3.50 – so there’s no excuse no matter where in the world you live. What’s inside?
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Since its launch in 1995 Picador has rapidly established itself as one of the leading literary trade paperback imprints in the country. Working closely with the esteemed hardcover houses Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Henry Holt and St Martin's Press, Picador's stable of authors include fiction and non-fiction Pulitzer Prize winners: Michael Chabon, Michael Cunningham, Marilynne Robinson and Jeffrey Eugenides; National Book Award winners Shirley Hazzard, Susan Sontag and Jonathan Franzen; and National Book Critics Circle Award winners Jim Crace and Philip Gourevitch. Picador's bestselling authors include Anita Diamant, Augusten Burroughs, Salman Rushdie, Lorrie Moore, Atul Gawande and Tom Wolfe.
The fun part is every Tuesday Picador will announce a new book pick and give readers two weeks to complete it. You could be one of the lucky people to win a free copy of the book. Book picks range from mystery to literary fiction to a work in translation. On the second Friday you'll get to correspond directly with the authors and editors of the book! Or you can submit questions before Friday to be addressed by the authors the day of the "discussion." Picador will pick books for every taste and reader. Read on to learn about Picador's Twitter program.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
It has been a while since I met Jorge Pinto at the Stanford Professional Publishing course in Palo Alto, California. His distinguished looks, meticulous dress, soft-spoken nature and unassuming demeanour belied an illustrious career in academia, the law, economics, foreign relations and business. At the time, Jorge had just launched his own independent publishing house, Pinto Books specializing in his four areas of interest and expertise: the re-issue of heady out-of-print classics, art books and illustrated books, and books translated from his native Spanish language. He now adds to that an interest in translating Chinese language fiction and has been making connections to the East in both publishing directions: through acquisition and translation, and via marketing and distribution. His relationship with books began when he was on the board of Latin America’s paramount commercial publishing house: Fondo de Cultura Económica de México. Of note, hee has had great success in marketing and sales using first-adaptor technology such as applications for iPhones. Discover this unique polyglot visionary who continues to inspire with his world vision and unquenchable appetite to learn.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
The New York Review of Books (NYRB) is moving offices from their current location to Hudson Street in Greenwich Village. Take advantage of the 40%-60% discounts on excellent titles not often available at these prices. Sale ends March 9th. Just browsing the list of fiction, translated fiction, essays and criticism along with other genres, I have pulled a few titles from my own shopping list. Aside from personal reading interests, it's always nice to have a few extra books on hand for gift occasions in the coming months; these are books suitable for most everyone. Learn more about this important literary and publishing force in America.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
If you attended any fine art gallery shows this past year, chances are that the art book created for one of the collections was designed by Ed Marquand's team in Seattle, Washington. The New York Times this past December featured four Marquand titles in their "Ten Best Art Books of 2007" one of a series of "Bests" that the world waits to peruse before shopping for the bibliophiles on their holiday list. Marquand Books, one of the most respected companies of its kind in the United States, produces fine illustrated books for museums, galleries, publishers, artists, collectors, and architects.
Saturday, October 21, 2006
I met George Plimpton in front of his Paris Review booth at the Los Angeles Times Book Festival back in 2002. A gentle giant, he blended a career of acting (Good Will Hunting) and literary arts as one of three founding members of The Paris Review. He died at the age of 73 in 2003. AbeBooks spoke with the new editor, Philip Gourevitch, and here is what he had to say about one of the world's most respected literary magazines.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Small independent publishing houses are a great place to shop for books that have been hand crafted from the selection processs through the editing, design and printing process. The one thing they lack is a big budget to market to you -- hense we at BookBuffet strive to bring you some of the gems available just a click away! Take a look at these three titles from Other Press: O My Darling by Amity Gaige, And the Word Was by Bruce Baumann and Hosack's Folly by Gillen D'Arcy Wood.
Sunday, July 24, 2005
What do smaller pub houses offer that the conglomerates can't? A passion 
and philosophy about books that is as varied and interesting as their owners. BookBuffet scouted out these fascinating people at the BEA in New York and asked for book recommendations from ten of the most interesting indi publishing houses. We start our series here with Other Press.
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Fiction and non-fiction used to carry relatively equal weight with book sellers, publishers and the compilers of bestseller lists. Until recently, fiction was the more dashing, glamorous side but non-fiction has started to produce stars which publishing companies are wanting to promote from their backlist.
