Aleen Kuperman is co-founder and CEO at Betches Media. The company has grown from a blog created in a dorm room at Cornell in 2011 to a sprawling media network including nine podcasts, New York Times-bestselling books and millions of Instagram followers. In this episode of the “Ad Block” podcast, Kuperman talks about growing up as the child of Russian immigrants who escaped the Soviet Union in 1988, a year before the Berlin Wall fell. In particular, it was a struggle to explicate what “Betches” was to her parents, who had always had high expectations for her future. “I had to explain to my parents, ‘I’m not going to medical school next year,’” she says. “I was terrified to have that conversation. They were like, ‘What’s a blog? How are you making money? What are you talking about?’” As with many new media startups, the business model evolved quickly, and as soon as she had gotten her parents on board, things would change. “They had just figured out Facebook, now they have to go learn Instagram,” Kuperman says. Tangible successes helped, like the book deal the team landed while still in college. “To my parents, that’s legit. A book, they understand.” Kuperman grew up hearing the stories of the family’s journey out of Russia, living in Vienna and Italy off the personal possessions they could sell before eventually being allowed into the U.S. and settling on Long Island. “Only now, I think back to all the things they instilled,” like her strong work ethic, she says. “It... Continue reading at 'Advertising Age'
[ Advertising Age | 2019-10-18 09:01:00 UTC ]
Despite awards and acclaim for his crime fiction, the impoverished novelist lost his home and was set to quit – then the phone rangIt was1.30 in the morning in Melbourne and Adrian McKinty had just got home after dropping off his last Uber customer of the night at the airport. His phone rang. It... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-07-08 06:00:17 UTC ]
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Titan Books will publish the supernatural-themed debut novel by Cambridge University librarian and writer Marian Womack as part of a two book deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-01 17:49:35 UTC ]
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Holly Seddon has moved to Trapeze after signing a two-book deal with the Orion imprint. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-25 02:03:06 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury has signed a global two-book deal with American YA author Brigid Kemmerer. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-24 21:35:35 UTC ]
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Bluebird has scooped world right to two new books from Jack Monroe, including her first volume of vegan recipes. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-23 23:20:24 UTC ]
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Zaffre has bagged an "unbelievably timely" debut novel from Helly Acton, which has already been optioned for TV, in a two-book deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-14 12:23:54 UTC ]
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Robert L. Bernstein, a publishing executive and human rights activist who presided over a generation of dynamic growth at Random House and advocated for dissidents around the world, from the Soviet Union to Argentina, has died after a brief illness. He was 96. The tall, sandy-haired... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-05-29 20:40:00 UTC ]
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The MAGA-themed tome "is going to be the top selling book in the Beyond-Help section of Barnes & Noble," cracked one wag. Continue reading at HuffPost
[ HuffPost | 2019-05-22 13:55:58 UTC ]
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The Iowa farmers behind the blog The Gingham Apron landed a book deal with Revell, Brazos signs an unconventional biography of a retiring clergyman, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-04-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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British comedian John Oliver skewered Mayor Catherine Pugh over the scandal surrounding her self-published Healthy Holly books, and he joined the ranks of people calling for her resignation during a segment of his HBO show Sunday night. On "Last Week Tonight," Oliver slammed Pugh for the... Continue reading at Baltimore Sun
[ Baltimore Sun | 2019-04-08 13:15:00 UTC ]
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British comedian John Oliver skewered Mayor Catherine Pugh over the scandal surrounding her self-published Healthy Holly books, and he joined the ranks of people calling for her resignation during a segment of his HBO show Sunday night. On "Last Week Tonight," Oliver slammed Pugh for the book... Continue reading at Baltimore Sun
[ Baltimore Sun | 2019-04-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh solicited a lucrative no-bid arrangement to sell copies of her self-published children’s books to the University of Maryland Medical System in “direct conversations” with the hospital network’s CEO, a top system official testified Saturday in Annapolis. Acting CEO... Continue reading at Baltimore Sun
[ Baltimore Sun | 2019-04-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, facing a call by Gov. Larry Hogan for a criminal investigation into the book deal that paid her hundreds of thousands of dollars, announced Monday that she will take an indefinite leave of absence because of her health. The Democratic mayor’s office issued a... Continue reading at Baltimore Sun
[ Baltimore Sun | 2019-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mayor Catherine Pugh apologized Thursday for upsetting the people of Baltimore over a book deal with the University of Maryland Medical System, as she for the first time produced evidence that 60,000 of her “Healthy Holly” children’s books have been printed and distributed. But she also said that... Continue reading at Baltimore Sun
[ Baltimore Sun | 2019-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The more we know about what other people earn, the more we can understand our own circumstancesI was paid a £12,500 advance to write my book, Open Up. Sharing this publicly, even as the author of a book about our emotional relationship with money, was initially petrifying, but I ended up... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-03-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins have acquired world English rights to The Black Hawks by David Wragg, a fantasy debut in which a band of mercenaries take on corrupt religious authorities. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-02-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The upcoming movie Yesterday bears resemblance to Nick Milligan’s novel EnormityWhen Nick Milligan decided to self-publish his speculative fiction novel, Enormity, he knew it was going to be a hard slog to find an audience. But seeing a similar plot play out in the trailer for Danny Boyle’s new... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-02-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Walker Books Group has acquired Maggie O’Farrell’s first children’s book deal in a global rights deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-02-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The shortlist for the 2019 International Prize for Arabic Fiction was announced today at the El-Hakawati Palestinian National Theatre in East Jerusalem. The IPAF - often referred to as the ‘Arabic Booker’ - is an annual literary prize for prose fiction, which encourages the readership of... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2019-02-05 16:33:45 UTC ]
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Macmillan Children’s Books (MCB) has won the five-way auction for Dougie Poynter’s non-fiction in a two book deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-12-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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