Author of this year’s biggest release Stephenie Meyer surprised her fans by posting on her web site that her “partial draft of Midnight Sun was illegally posted on the Internet and has since been virally distributed without my knowledge or permission or the knowledge or permission of my publisher”–and as a result, she has put the new manuscript “on hold indefinitely.” Meyer writes: “My first feeling was that there was no way to continue. Writing isn’t like math; in math, two plus two always equals four no matter what your mood is like. With writing, the way you feel changes […]
Archives for September 2008
Revealing Ron Paul's Ghostwriter
Presidential candidate Ron Paul’s book THE REVOLUTION: A Manifesto “has become the centerpiece of a counterconvention,” the Washington Post reports. “But although the congressman from Texas has repeatedly called the book his own work, it was largely written by an unacknowledged ghostwriter, and it is unclear how much Paul contributed to the final product.” The paper “obtained” a copy of the “original manuscript,” written by Ron Paul supporter and libertarian scholar Tom Woods, along with correspondence from Woods. A letter from last December presenting the manuscript says, “When my agent shopped the idea around (before I’d actually written the book) […]
Palin Books? There's One
Seattle’s Epicenter Press has Kaylene Johnson’s short book SARAH: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska’s Political Establishment Upside Down, published in May, the only book so far about the Republican’s new vice presidential running mate. The publisher told a WSJ blog on Friday “they anticipate ramping up production with Ingram Book Co. for ‘tens of thousands’ more copies.” Prior to the vice presidential announcement the book was not being carried by Amazon or BN.com, though that changed quickly. Epicenter is distributed to the trade by Graphic Arts Center Publishing. Press publisher and co-owner Kent Sturgis told the Seattle Times they […]
The Billionaire and the Bookstore
Apparently folks on Nantucket are trying hard to find some kind of dark side to Wendy Schmidt (wife of Google ceo Eric Schmidt) and her support for local businesses–including her saving of Mitchell’s Book Corner. “Nantucket philanthropists do not, as a rule, stick their noses into the business of running the town. Last year, Wendy Schmidt changed that. She donated land for a transit hub, then saved the bookstore. Now she’s talking about saving other local businesses, at least ones that she and her advisers deem worthy of preservation, and, in doing so, she may be changing the face of […]
International News: Chinese Book Fair, and Random's South African Expansion
Consultant Rudiger Wischenbart is blogging from the Beijing Book Fair–this year actually being held 70 miles away in Tianjin. Among the currents in Chinese publishing, he sees a maturing and ambitious industry that wants to “localize” licensed international content to be more appropriate for the Chinese audience. He says the Chinese also hope to license and export more of their books to the rest of the world. Booklab A report from Technology Media & Technology China says that vice minister of the General Administration of Press and Publication Yan Xiaohong indicated at a convention forum “that the government would adopt […]
Fall Books
The Washington Post offers its extensive preview: “Consider the years of work and accumulated wisdom that have gone into producing the 116 that follow. Here is a treasure trove of knowledge, from a chronicle of the White House war room to the artistry of Marc Chagall. Here, too, is a world of the imagination, from the slave trade as conjured by Toni Morrison to the nervous ’50s with Philip Roth. This is but a mere fragment, a scattered sampling of what’s in store for our readers as we head into the busiest season of the year.”Post The SF Chronicle also […]