After three years as agent and contracts director of the Donald Maass Literary Agency, Stephen Barbara will join Foundry Literary + Media as a full-time agent on Monday, January 5th. Barbara represents authors for both the children’s and adult markets and is bringing his entire list to Foundry. Also in recent days, in the UK, Harper UK ceo Victoria Barnsley and editor, memoirist and novelist (and Costa award nominee) Diana Athill were both awarded OBE’s on the Queen’s annual honors list, as Terry Pratchett was “flabbergasted” to receive a knighthood. On December 31, prolific mystery writer Donald Westlake, 75, died […]
Archives for January 2009
UK Sales Finish 2008 Down Slightly
According to Nielsen Bookscan, unit book sales in the UK for 2008 were down by just 0.4 percent, while revenue declined 1.6 percent to 1.773 billion pounds. Revenue was up 3.7 percent for the first half of the year, but declined 5 percent during the second half.
Some Big Titles on the Way
The WSJ highlights a few big releases, including the announced 2.8 million-copy first printing for John Grisham’s The Associate, publishing January 27. Others mentioned include Jodi Picoult’s Handle with Care, James Patterson’s nonfiction book The Murder of King Tut, Jonathan Littell’s The Kindly Ones, Sara Gruen’s Ape House, and Emmanuel Jal’s War Child: A Child Soldier’s Story.WSJ