Archives for August 2007

Barnett to Shop Blair Book Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has chosen Washington-based attorney Bob Barnett to represent rights to his book. A Blair source told the AP “that the book, probably a memoir, hasn’t been started and is at least a few years from publication. There have been no negotiations or serious discussions with publishers, the representative said.” And a friend of Blair’s confirms for the Guardian the book is “years off publication.” It’s anticipated that discussions with publishers will begin soon. Considered a figure of popular interest in the US as well as the UK, a world […]

Len’s Buying Again With Barnes & Noble stock down to its lowest levels since 2004, chairman Len Riggio has resumed buying, purchasing 100,000 shares. Riggio’s last buying streak ended about two years, when the stock was trading about five dollars a share higher. He currently holds just under 13 million shares, or about 20 percent of the company. Riggio’s buying is closely watched by Wall Street, and shares rose after hours yesterday when his purchase was revealed. Reuters Personnel News Carl Raymond has been named associate publisher for Simon Spotlight Entertainment, starting September 5. He will acquire “select titles” and […]

Who Did It We were surprised when media outlets made much of the news that a “New York publisher” had picked up rights to IF I DID IT. Last night, a statement was released showing the true nature of those first implications — the purchaser is Eric Kampmann’s Beaufort Books (distributed by Midpoint), and a Reuters piece cites a publication date of October 3. Though it now appears to have been removed from their site, as of recently Beaufort described themselves this way: “Beaufort offers an intriguing alternative to the traditional publishing model. We guide the publishing process, share in […]

Smith Expects Good Close to Year In a brief trading update, WH Smith said that “in the High Street Retail business our focus on gross margin gains and tight cost control continues to deliver a solid performance. The Travel Retail business continues its strong performance and is making good progress. Accordingly WH Smith PLC expects the outcome for the year to 31 August 2007 to be towards the top of market expectations.” Smith release Where the Greatest War Lives On Also in the UK, the Telegraph advises that “in publishing… books about the Second World War, fiction and non-fiction, look […]

Court Takes Giacchetto’s Book Rights Under a settlement filed with the bankruptcy court, former money manager Dana Giacchetto is giving up his interest in a book deal for You Will Make Money in Your Sleep: The Story of Dana Giacchetto, Financial Advisor to the Stars, and rights to his story to help pay back $3 million owed to former clients. Reuters says that “the bankruptcy trustee sued Giacchetto last year after discovering that he had set up a company called Legis to sell the rights to his life story to author Emily White in exchange for half of the book’s […]

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 Sydney Salter’s MY BIG NOSE & OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS, about a […]