Publicist Jayme Phillips confirms that her client, actor Patrick Swayze, intends to co-author a memoir with his wife Lisa. (Swayze was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year.) But Phillips says, “There’s no publisher. There’s no dates. There’s no anything else.”Reuters Separately, an entertainment wire service claims that Molly Ringwald is writing a book on life as a fortysomething for HarperCollins for publication later this year.Wire
Archives for January 2009
Layoffs Hit Big University Presses
Cambridge University Press is laying off almost 160 people in the UK. Chief executive Stephen Bourne says: “We know that this is an incredibly difficult time for those staff that are affected and we will be doing all we can to support them through these changes.” He added, “This has been a very hard decision to make. There are parts of the business doing very well and a lot of them are overseas but two parts are not and one is simply not viable in the long term.” Hardest hit is their Cambridge Printing Services unit, where 133 jobs are […]
People
Headline publishing director Harriet Evans is leaving her job to focus full-time on writing, with her fourth novel due for publication this fall. Correcting yesterday’s report, Victoria Stapleton‘s promotion at Little, Brown Children’s is to associate director, school and library marketing.
Wimpy Opens Strong
In its first week on sale Jeff Kinney’s DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: THE LAST STRAW recorded sales of approximately 240,000 copies in outlets tracked by Nielsen Bookscan, as publisher Abrams says that first day sale alone “exceeded 100,000 copies” and “first-week sales totaled more than 300,000 copies.” Two reprints comprising 500,000 copies will bring the copies in print up to 1.5 million units. Abrams ceo Michael Jacobs says, “Booksellers of all sizes are thrilled with the popularity of this series, and it’s clear that the huge response…has far exceeded expectations. In this difficult economic climate, with reports of bad […]
Bowker Parent Takes Stake In LibraryThing
LibraryThing has sold a minority interest in the enterprise to Cambridge Information Group, which owns Bowker (as well as AquaBrowser, ProQuest, Serials Solutions and RefWorks). LT’s Tim Spalding writes on his blog that a key factor was “moola.” He notes, “LibraryThing has been profitable for a while, but we didn’t have much of a cushion. It was a nail-biter. We needed servers and new employees, but what if we had a few down months? And did I mention the economy is sick? (Cut to Tim worrying.) The CIG deal frees us from worry and gives us room to grow. While […]
Step One: Palin Hires Barnett
Reuters says that former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has hired attorney Bob Barnett to represent her. Barnett did not comment; nor did Palin’s office. (In early December it was reported that Barnett is representing Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe, who is shopping a proposal for THE AUDACITY TO WIN.)Reuters