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Posts Tagged “

Random House

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peter olson

Brutal Publishing Exec Really A Wimp

Peter Olson of Random House fixed his reputation in the publishing industry when he displayed a smirking glee at the number of editors he'd fired. (Never let Lynn Hirschberg of the Times follow you around.) However, the outgoing Random House boss may have combined the worst of all management styles: a callous public persona and decision-making weakness. Intelligencer notes that Olson let Random House units bid each other up for hot books. "For all of his tough talk, the proud and cerebral Olson was never a real enforcer."

10:48 AM on Mon May 12 2008
By Nick Denton
336 views, 1 comment

Latest by artynimue1: "(Never let Lynn Hirschberg of the Times follow you around.)" Unless, of course, she promises that she's doing one of her puff pieces. Then get it in writing. more »

peter olson

How 'Best Mommy Of Park Avenue' Secured More Quality Time With Random House Hubby

Peter Olson—widely reported to be stepping down from Random House after a debilitating bout of pneumonia—doesn't get much sympathy in the publishing industry. Here's how the publishing giant's chief executive will be remembered: as a money-minded philistine who's fallen victim to the same financial accountability he tried to instill at Bertelsmann's US book producing factory. But there is one endearing angle to Olson's comeuppance: his departure may have been dictated less by Bertelsmann's Teutonic board members than Olson's formidable wife, Candice. More »

5:12 PM on Tue May 6 2008
By Nick Denton
6,533 views, 21 comments

Latest by cyanidecygnet: @Hamud Ibn Hamud: neither, actually. I just like the dude. more »

Ousted Random House Publisher Short Of Own Yardstick Despite his illness, it sounds like there was some schadenfreude surrounding the departure of Peter Olson: "Olson may be best remembered in the publishing industry for abruptly dismissing the president of the Random House Trade Group, Ann Godoff, in 2003. He said in a news release that she ran the only unit 'to consistently fall short of their profitability targets.' Now, Mr. Olson appears to have fallen victim to that same bottom-line calculus." [Times]

1 comment

Olson Out Random House chief Peter Olson will step down in the next few weeks, according to an unsourced report posted to the New York Times website. An illness—said by Publishers Weekly to be double pneumonia—had left the publishing exec "distracted and unavailable" for months. Olson, who has five children including two adopted from Eastern Europe, married the founder of the iVillage website for women, Candice Carpenter, in 2001. (One tipster says his forceful wife refused to allow contact by Random House's German owners while Olson was sick.)

3 comments

evil corporations in action

Random House Proudly Promoting Eating Disorders

To publicize the re-release of teen fiction series Sweet Valley High, Random House Children's Books sent a letter to journalists highlighting the changes made to the content of the 1980s paperbacks. New cover girl Leven Rambin (pictured) was not mentioned, but just to make sure preteen and teenaged girl readers are sufficiently insecure about their bodies, the publisher made the "perfect" clothing size a couple of notches more restrictive. It seems kids in the 80s lived by totally fat standards. Also, Sweet Valley High students now have their own anonymous blog, presumably to hatefully bully the fattest of their classmates. Here's a helpful chart from the Random House letter, followed by the letter itself: More »

8:17 PM on Wed Mar 26 2008
By Ryan Tate
22,417 views, 48 comments

Latest by Mary: The twins drove a purple Jeep in the original books though...they bought it after Liz crashed the Fiat during one of the 47 junior proms they attended more »

pomposity

Steve Almond's New Book Will Change The World

So author and daddyblogger Steve Almond's new collection of mostly previously published essays, Not That You Asked: Rants, Exploits and Obsessions, doesn't just contain a deranged yet oddly bet-hedgey open letter to Oprah. It also contains secret wisdom that will change America, reopening our eyes to the pleasures of literature and eliminating our dependence on lowbrow culture! And maybe curing AIDS and solving poverty! At least, that's what Steve seemed to be implying in the thank-you note he sent to the Random House staff who worked to publicize his book. More »

12:20 PM on Mon Sep 17 2007
By Emily Gould
3,121 views, 13 comments

Latest by Steve Almond: Gawking Ourselves to Death on The Huffington Post Full Blog Feed: Until a few weeks ago, I'd never paid much attention to Gawker. I had a vague sense that they were a gossip website that had something to do with New York. Then my editor sent me a link to a more »

publishing sex in the city

The 'Sin In The Second City' Party

The Museum of Sex seems to exist solely for 18-year-old tourists from Minnesota to come in and giggle wildly at the adult diapers and dildos on display. Because really, would you pay $14.50 plus tax to see stuff that's probably in your bedroom? But last night, duty called, and so Nikola and I headed over to the museum for the party for Sin in the Second City, a new book about a brothel in turn-of-the-20th-century Chicago. (And guess what? The book is actually really, really good. Even Joseph Epstein thought so!) What we found was that there's nothing publishing types like more than a party at a sex museum, because people who work in publishing are all secretly sexual deviants. Kidding! Well, sort of kidding.

More »

2:05 PM on Thu Jul 12 2007
By Doree Shafrir
15,074 views, 27 comments

Latest by de wolfe: when women stick their tongues out in pictures like this woman the right is doing, they think it makes them look kind of fun and wacky, but it's just stupid. when she's feeling pretty britney does it too, and I more »

publishing

Random House Editor Jason Pinter Gets Dooced

Crown/Three Rivers Press editor Jason Pinter's bloggy musings—since removed—about the relative success of Crown author Chris Bohjalian's latest effort, compared to Ishmael Beah's Starbucks-anointed memoir, seem to have gotten him canned. His last day was yesterday. (Citing Bookscan numbers on one's personal website is apparently against house policy.) But don't feel too bad for Pinter: he's got his career as a thriller writer to fall back on! And besides, his last few stinky acquisitions for Three Rivers—which include a gimmicky blog book by that dude who bartered a paperclip for a house, and the latest by Modern Drunkard Frank Kelly Rich—are all someone else's problem now. So really, Pinter owes us and Galleycat a beer or something for linking to his blog and getting him fired. We'll hold our breaths waiting for the thank you note. More »

11:58 AM on Tue Mar 6 2007
By Emily Gould
2,302 views, 2 comments

Latest by Jared Goralnick / Technotheory: I hope your readers get to read more of the story over here. Random House made a poor decision; if anyone deserves the attention for a horrible choice it's them. Jason's post, which has now been removed, was creative more »

random house

Random House to Employees: 'Oops, We Lost Your Social! Our Bad.'

We'd always thought that, in spite of its undesirable Midtown location, Random House was the best place to work in publishing. They're owned by Bertelsmann, a German company, which means they have a more Euro-style approach to vacation days and they give you a bonus for having a baby and stuff like that. Also, they have the best 'shrine to books' lobby (pictured). But having the week between Xmas and New Years off is starting to seem a little less desirable in light of a memo a former RH employee leaked to us today: More »

9:30 AM on Thu Jan 25 2007
By Emily Gould
449 views, 6 comments

Latest by chocomel: My wife works there, and as a result, she got this letter. She was ranting and raving so much about this, I kind of tuned her out. But, I perked up when I caught on to something that seems so glaringly more »

books

In Wake of Kitty Kelley Bio Deal, Oprah To Start Actively Discouraging Literacy

"Between this and James Frey, she'll never touch another Random House author," a tipster tells Galleycat. This, of course, in reference to the news yesterday that Kitty Kelley's long kicked around town unauthorized Oprah biography has finally landed at Crown, one of the publishing behemoth's zillion imprints. Though Kelly is talking like her bio will be a positive take on the Queen of All Media ("Oprah's story is one of hope, promise and realization of the American dream") we're a little skeptical. (We read that Nancy Reagan bio back in the day, and it scarred us for life a little. Kelley is the queen of 'but I didn't ever want to . . . okay, I kind of did want to know that but . . . oh god, not that! no!') So yes, we agree with that tipster: her Oness probably will be scaling back her efforts on behalf of Knopf, Bantam, Doubleday, Ballantine, One World, Villard, Pantheon, Anchor, Vintage, Spiegel & Grau, Broadway, Three Rivers, etc, etc, etc. So . . . the vast majority of all authors. Yup, farewell again, Oprah's Book Club! Well, unless this will be the next pick.

Kitty Kelley Deal Raises Eyebrows [Galleycat]
Kitty Kelley book due on Oprah [AP]

3:55 PM on Thu Dec 14 2006
By Emily Gould
308 views, 6 comments

Latest by FracturedAcetabulum: She said "no" to smoking bowls, but said "yes to smoking poles. Oh that Nancy. more »

james frey

James Frey's Author's Note of Fury

The Times gives us a little summary as to what Fake Writer James Frey's has added to forthcoming editions of A Million Little Pieces in his new author's note: a little "I lied," a dash of "I'm sorry," and not a pinch of Oprah. Exactly what you expected, really. More »

5:00 PM on Thu Feb 2 2006
By Jessica
253 views, 3 comments

james frey

Oprah Makes Random House Cry Uncle

Oprah Winfrey's awesome power truly knows no bounds. After refusing for the last two-and-a-half weeks to take any responsibility for James Frey's faux-nonfiction, Doubleday & Anchor Books, the Random House division that published A Million Little Pieces finally issued an apology today — timestamped 4:51 p.m., before Oprah was even off the air. More »

5:22 PM on Thu Jan 26 2006
By Jesse
146 views, Comment

james frey

Random House: You're Stuck With Your Fake Writer

BREAKING! FAKE WRITER DAY(s) UPDATE! From the Random House website: More »
ann godoff

Random House president fired

Ann Godoff, president of Bertelsmann's Random House division, was fired Thursday for failing to meet profitability goals and the details are just coming out. Her division generated more best-sellers than any other, but the group's net income of $2 million was $4 million short of CEO Peter Olson's target. It didn't help that Godoff had alienated key executives and had no staunch defenders among the other division heads.
Searching for motives in Random House ouster [NYT]

9:30 AM on Mon Jan 20 2003
By Gawker
85 views, Comment