The etailer announced a new imprint today, Amazon Crossing, which will publish English-language translation of works from other languages, starting with Tierno Monénembo’s French novel (and winner of the prix Renaudot) THE KING OF KAEL, translated by Nicholas Elliott. Run by vp of books Jeff Belle, he says “our international customers have made us aware of exciting established and emerging voices from other cultures and countries that have not been translated for English-language readers.” As with their Encore program, they say that they will “use customer feedback and other data from Amazon sites around the world to identify exceptional books […]
Archives for May 2010
UK's PFD Sold Again, to Talent Manager Backed by Matthew Freud
Beleaguered, once-proud UK agency PFD has been sold again, this time to agent Michael Foster, who will merge it with his three-person company MF Management and rename it The Rights House. (Foster’s founding investor, and the largest non-executive shareholder of the newly merged agency, is UK PR maven and son-in-law of Rupert Murdoch, Matthew Freud.) As a result, ten of the agency’s 32 staffers are reportedly going to lose their jobs. Caroline Michel, who was hired as chief executive of PFD in 2007 after previous management rebuffed efforts by core longtime agents to buy back the agency, remains as a […]
New Ventures: Bloomsbury Australia, Night Shade's New Imprint, and More
In a non-specific first quarter trading update–generally used to assure investors that everything is great–Bloomsbury announced that they will launch their own Australian division in January 2011. Current marketing director of Bloomsbury UK Kathleen Farrar will be managing director of the new unit. Their longtime Australian distributor Allen & Unwin will provide sales and distribution services to the new company. Update Sc-fi/horror publisher Night Shade Books is launching Pugilist Press, focused on “contemporary literary fiction with an edge.” Juliet Ulman is editor-in-chief of the new line, with Night Shade founder Jason Williams as publisher. Ulman had been at Bantam Dell […]
Hillendbrand's New Book Set for November; Demi Moore Is Shopping; and More
Seabiscuit author Laura Hillenbrand‘s new book UNBROKEN: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption has been announced for publication November 16 by Random House. (Seabiscuit was published in 2001.) They say it “tells the story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic athlete and Army Air Force bombardier who, in 1943, crashed into the Pacific Ocean and floated for 47 days on a small raft, surviving shark attacks, a typhoon, and attack from the Japanese bomber. Captured by the Japanese military, he was sent to a series of prisoner of war camps, where he was held for more than […]
More eBook Bestsellers
With a new week’s data (above) from Amazon’s Kindle, we’re rounding out last week’s comparison charts showing differentiations among the bestseller lists at leading ebook platforms with a comparable chart of the week’s bestsellers from Kobo: Kobo (May 15)1. Dead In The Family, Charlaine Harris*2. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson+3. The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown+4. Lover Mine, J.R. Ward*5. Eclipse, Stephenie Meyer6. Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyer7. Sh*t My Dad Says, Justin Halpern8. Savor The Moment, Nora Roberts* 9. The Girl Who Played With Fire, Stieg Larsson+10. Triple Heat, Jolene Beauchamp * Not carried in the Kindle store+ […]
Konrath Signs Directly with Amazon
J.A. Konrath, who has blogged extensively about his success in selling his own Kindle versions of his books (generally at very low prices) has now signed directly with Amazon Encore as the publisher for the new book in his Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels series. (Hyperion has been his print publisher.) SHAKEN will be published as a Kindle edition first, in October 2010, priced at $2.99, with a print version following in February 2011. On his blog Konrath poses and answers some questions not covered in the press release” Q: You signed a print deal? I thought you weren’t signing any more […]