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1/15/2010:  Chelsea Gilmore joined the Maria Carvainis Agency as an agent on Jan. 4. Kensington Publishing appointed Alicia Condon, formerly with Dorchester, to succeed Kate Duffy as editorial director of Brava Books.  Kerry Donovan has been promoted to editor at NAL.

1/20/2009: (from Publisher's Lunch)
Harlequin Drops Brand from Self-Publishing Line, As Criticism Continues
Harlequin has continued to suffer criticism from multiple fronts for their new self-publishing program, and while they have not altered the offering itself, they are removing the name Harlequin from the line.

CEO Donna Hayes said in a statement replying to the Romance Writers of America's declaration that the publisher would no longer be eligible for certain resources at the organizations conference: "We are changing the name of the self-publishing company from Harlequin Horizons to a designation that will not refer to Harlequin in any way. We will initiate this process immediately. We hope this allays the fears many of you have communicated to us."

Hayes expressed surprise and dismay at the RWA's notice, particularly "before allowing Harlequin to respond or engage in a discussion about it with the RWA board." And she added, "It is disappointing that the RWA has not recognized that publishing models have and will continue to change. As a leading publisher of women's fiction in a rapidly changing environment, Harlequin's intention is to provide authors access to all publishing opportunities, traditional or otherwise."

But bestselling author Nora Roberts was among those who continued to oppose the spirit and practice of the program itself, in a variety of comments at Smart Bitches: "Vanity press is called vanity for a reason. You're paying for your ego. That's fine, dealer's choice. But it's a different matter when a big brand publisher uses its name and its resources to sell this as dream fulfillment, advertises it as such while trying to claim it's not really their brand being used to make money on mss they've rejected as not worthy of that brand in the first place."

Roberts added in another comment: "it's deceptive vanity.... Taking the Harlequin name off is important, but it doesn't address what Horizons is, or all those links on their website, or directing rejected authors to Horizons as another channel to publication, and so on."

Both the Science Fiction Writers of America and the Mystery Writers of America also issued statements criticizing the new venture. The SFWA is concerned that the new venture's "sole purpose appears to be the enrichment of the corporate coffers at the expense of aspiring writers." They have declared that "NO titles from ANY Harlequin imprint will be counted as qualifying for membership in SFWA."

The MWA has even broader concerns, saying that they wrote to Harlequin on November 9 to express dismay over a separate paid offer, the "eHarlequin Manuscript Critique Service," suggesting the "removing mention of this for-pay service entirely from its manuscript submission guidelines, clearly identifying any mention of this program as paid advertisement, and, adding prominent disclaimers that this venture was totally unaffiliated with the editorial side of Harlequin, and that paying for this service is not a factor in the consideration of manuscripts."

SFWA
MWA Statement
Hayes letter
Roberts comment

11/18/2009:  In response to Harlequin's announcement of its self-publishing venture, RWA has removed Harlequin's recognized publisher status.  For more information, visit the RWA website.

11/17/2009:  From Publisher's Lunch.  Harlequin is launching a self-pubilshing venture known as Harlequin Horizons.  More information is available at their website:  http://www.harlequinhorizons.com/ 

11/9/2009:  Harlequin has announced the creation of a digital-only publishing house separate from their other traditional publishing business, Carina Press.  eBooks will be sold direct to consumers through the Carina Press Web site and numerous third-party Web sites. Carina Press will publish a wide range of women's fiction -- romance, erotica, science fiction, mystery, family sagas, choose your own adventures, horror, thriller and more, including every conceivable subgenre of these categories. 

Carina Press is currently accepting submissions in all genres of commercial fiction. Carina Press willconsider shorter stories, genre novels of 50,000 to 100,000 words and longer, and complex narratives of over 100,000 words. Carina Press will also acquire books that have been previously released in print form, but for which the author has either retained digital rights or had digital rights revert to them. All submissions should be sent to submissions@carinapress.com.  Carina Press plans to launch in summer 2010 and will release new titles on a weekly basis.

10/21/2009:  From Publisher's Lunch: Agent Amy Tipton has left FinePrint Literary Management to join Signature Literary Agency. 

10/19/2009:  From Publisher's Lunch:  Kara Cesare is joining Gallery Books as executive editor in November. She has been at NAL.

9/29/2009:  From Publisher's Lunch:  Kensington editor Kate Duffy, 56, died recently after a long illness. Among the many honors she received, Duffy won the Romance Writers of America's inaugural Industry Award in 1991. Her long career as a romance editor included serving as founding editor of Silhouette Books and founder of Harlequin's Worldwide Library imprint and Pocket's Tapestry Books, while at Kensington she established Brava Books. A memorial service will be scheduled soon.

9/28/2009:  Via Susan Wiggs -- Kate Duffy, Editorial Director at Kensington Books has passed away.  She will be greatly missed.

9/1/2009:  From Publisher's Weekly:  Two editors at Pocket, including editorial director Maggie Crawford, and an editorial assistant at Simon Spotlight Entertainment were laid off last week, the Observer reports.

8/19/2009:  From Publisher's Weekly:  Harlequin Books has partnered with Flower Pot Press to produce a new stationary line featuring vintage cover art from the 1940s and 1950s.  Read more here.

7/2/2009:  From Publisher's Weekly:  Nancy Yost is leaving Lowenstein-Yost Associates Inc. to start up her own literary agency. She may be reached at nancy@nyliterary.com.

6/29/2009:  From Publisher's Weekly:  Stephanie MacLean has been promoted to literary agent at Trident Media Group, where she started in 2007 as Dan Strone's assistant. She is specializing in romance, women's fiction and YA.

6/24/2009:  Publisher's Weekly announced that by popular request of Dealmakers, they have added a sub-category breakout for "Paranormal" romance/fantasy books in their Fiction section. Feel free to use the new designation appropriately in your future reports.

6/15/2009:  From Publisher's Weekly:  This week's New Yorker profiles Nora Roberts, "America's most popular novelist"--whom the magazine explains to its readers is like "the Raymond Carver of romance," at least in her "choice of milieu." (They note that the Times Book Review has reviewed just one of her books.)

They say that in 2008, Penguin shipped 8 million copies of new books by Roberts, along with 5.5 million copies of Roberts' backlist and 4.5 million copies of books under her pen name J.D. Robb. At Barnes & Noble, Roberts is the top romance writer and Robb is second only to Janet Evanovich.

6/10/2009:  From Publisher's Weekly:

Top Ten Romance/Women's Fiction Agents

1.  Roberta Brown
2.  Kimberly Whalen
3.  Laura Bradford
4.  Jennifer Schober
5.  Kevan Lyon
6.  Natasha Kern
7.  Pamela Harty
8.  Emily Sylvan Kim
9.  Deidre Knight
10.  Karen Solem

Top Ten Romance/Women's Fiction Editors

1.  Cindy Hwang
2.  John Scognamiglio
3.  Deb Werksman
4.  Kate Seaver
5.  Audrey LaFehr
6.  Diana Ventimiglia
7.  Melissa Endlich
8.  Susan Pezzack-Swinwood
9.  Ann Leslie Tuttle
10.  Kate Duffy

3/19/2009:  From Publisher's Weekly:  Jenny Bent has left Trident Media Group to form The Bent Agency. (Her 15 years in publishing included a stint at Cader Books.)

2/25/2009:  From Publisher's Weekly:  Agents Jill Marsal and Kevan Lyon have left the Sandra Dijkstra Agency to form the Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. Marsal was at the Dijkstra agency for eight years and practiced as an attorney representing authors prior to that. Lyon spent four years at Dijkstra and worked in the wholesale and distribution side of the publishing business for over 17 years before becoming an agent.

2/13/2009:  From Publisher's Weekly/MSNBC:  Two writers (a man and a woman) teamed up to write romance novels that they customize for customers--and it's a pretty good business: "Fifty bucks for a paperback. Eighty-five for a hardcover. More, if you want your pictures on the cover." The partners sell about 2,000 copies on Valentine's Day alone. And half of the buyers are men.