Archives for October 2006

French Publishers Join Suit The French Publishers’ Association has officially joined in La Martiniere Group’s lawsuit against Google over their Book Search service, filed last June. They have the same objections to the program as publishers and authors in other countries, but then there is this added twist: “One of the issues at stake is the way Google presents the search results: They are shown graphically as a ragged-edged piece of paper, as if torn from a book. That angers the French publishers because it portrays their work as just one step away from the trash can, said Tessa Destais, […]

Pearson Profits In a brief “trading update,” Pearson confirms that its fiscal third quarter has gone as projected, with sales rising and profits improving even more, driven by Pearson Education. As usual, Penguin earns itself praise for an “outstanding publishing performance” due to sales up 2 percent. Pearson King’s Favorite Readings Stephen King discusses how “audio perfects reading” in his Entertainment Weekly column, and recommends his 10 favorite audiobooks: 1. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (Read by Ron Silver) 2. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (Read by Wolfram Kandinsky) 3. The Harry Potter novels, J.K. Rowling (Read by Jim Dale) 4. That […]

Deal Reports Just e-mail to deals@PublishersMarketplace if you aren’t using the online form linked below. Report a deal using the online form The Key As usual, the handy key to our Lunch deal categories. While all reports are always welcome, those that include a category will generally receive a higher listing when it comes time to put them all together. “nice deal” $1 – $49,000 “very nice deal” $50,000 – $99,000 “good deal” $100,000 – $250,000 “significant deal” $251,000 – $499,000 “major deal” $500,000 and up FICTION Debut CS Richardson’s THE END OF THE ALPHABET (formerly known as THE GRAND […]

Personnel News and Appointments Diane Reverand is leaving St. Martin’s after four years there. Deputy managing director of Penguin UK Andrew Welham is leaving the company at Christmas, after “23 truly wonderful years.” At Da Capo, Kate Kazeniac has been promoted to associate director of publicity. Brand Republic reports that Harper has hired Agency.com to develop its website and make it “more integrated and consumer-focused,” as well as handling digital marketing for authors and titles. They add: “Harpers wants to develop interactive communities of authors and readers. It is also looking at how it can make content available through blogs, […]

Whiting Winners These ten writers have been recognized for “their extraordinary talent and promise” with $40,000 grants from the Whiting Foundation. Fiction writers Yiyun Li (A Thousand Years of Good Prayers) Charles D’Ambrosio (The Dead Fish Museum) Micheline Aharonian Marcom (The Daydreaming Boy) Nina Marie Martínez (¡Caramba! A Tale Told in Turns of the Card) Patrick O’Keeffe (The Hill Road) Poets Sherwin Bitsui (Shapeshift) Tyehimba Jess (leadbelly) Suji Kwock Kim (Notes from the Divided Country: Poems) Playwrights Stephen Adly Guirgis (The Little Flower of East Orange) Bruce Norris (The Pain and the Itch) Salute these Shorts The extremely short story […]

Amazon Makes Market Happy Total sales at Amazon for the third quarter rose 24 percent to $2.31 billion, as net income fell more than third to $19 million, “mainly due to technology and content investments… including seller platforms, web services and digital initiatives.” North American media sales (which include books) rose 15 percent to $785 million for the quarter, as international media sales hit $757 million, up 20 percent. Results exceeded Wall Street’s projections, and the company cheered investors by noting that the ramp up in technology and content costs will diminish next quarter. Separately, the AP notes that Amazon […]