Jofie Ferrari-Adler continues his Poets & Writers interview series with Chuck Adams, now enjoying “a third act” at Algonquin, where one of his first acquisitions was Sarah Gruen’s Water for Elephants. “The redemption story is only part of why I wanted to talk with Adams. I heard a rumor that he was a straight shooter, and I had a hunch that his experience at publishing houses both large and small, and his extensive background with commercial authors, would yield some unique insights that writers of all stripes might find useful. In our wide-ranging conversation, Adams spoke with rare candor about […]
Archives for October 2008
By the Numbers
A little less late for dinner, slightly less exhausted, and with luck, somewhat fewer typos than yesterday. There’s enough regular news of all kinds that I’ll save the Frankfurt overview for tomorrow, going out very early before my plane back to New York, but suffice it to say you’re not missing out on anything big. (The headline in the printed fair daily is a repetition of a denial, as Amazon UK reiterates that when they said would not be released in the UK this year, they meant it.) As usual, this fair is not about ebooks even though that’s the […]
Starbucks Will Co-Publish New Pick with FSG
Starbucks has picked the book they will feature in their stores this holiday season–Daren Simkin’s THE TRAVELER, illustrated by brother Daniel Simkin–and for the first time, the coffee company is co-publishing the book instead of just buying copies from the publisher. Their partner is Farrar, Straus, which has had the book in their catalog, though without noting the Starbucks association, which was saved for the announcement. But Starbucks got the first look at the book, and FSG was enlisted as a partner thereafter. Bill Clegg at the William Morris Agency, which helps scout properties for Starbucks, says that the agency […]
Koontz Memoir Coming
As often happens, one of the bigger deal announcements comes not from the book fair but from the US. USA Today got the first look at the official press release (a glimpse had leaked through our foreign deal reports last month) that Dean Koontz will write a memoir, A BIT LITTLE LIFE: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog, publishing next summer from Hyperion. It’s the first in a two-book nonfiction deal for world English rights at Hyperion with editor Brenda Copeland. Koontz says: “I wanted to write not just another dog story like Marley & Me — and, by the […]
Penguin Gets Widgety
Penguin Group will use Ingram Digital for the hosting, management and distribution of ebook and downloadable audiobook titles in the US, UK and Canada. They say that Ingram will host and distribute “approximately 11,000 titles, with many more slated to be added in 2009,” including the fulfillment of titles for Penguin’s US and UK web sites. As of next year, “many titles will also be available to retailers through Ingram Digital’s Search and Discover services.”
Google Bits
Google Book Search’s head of partnerships for Europe Santiago de la Mora, as the company says they now have 20,000 publishing partners around the world: “But let’s be clear on the record that Google’s not going to launch an ereader or something like that.” He would not update the number of books scanned and available online: “The figure has not been changed. That’s [over a million books] the official number. It’s more than the figures. Let’s not get bogged down.” It sure is. As we noted earlier this week, the newly-formed Hathi Trust, seemingly not very much on the radar […]