News of an author switching publishing houses often doesn’t even trickle out into public view until the most recent book arrives with a different colophon on the side of the hardcover or paperback. Reports on contract negotiations are even rarer – but for the big brand names, anything is news. Hence yesterday’s story at Deadline.com about negotiations between Janet Evanovich and St. Martin’s Press, which has published every Stephanie Plum novel since 1996 and just released the newest #1 NYT bestseller, SIZZLING SIXTEEN. Per the wispily sourced piece, SMP allegedly turned down Evanovich’s hoped-for contract extension of $50 million for […]
Archives for July 2010
eNews: Google Goes Dutch, Maps Location to Literature; eBooks for Oprah iPad app; and more
Google is partnering with the National Library of the Netherlands to scan more than 160,000 books, which constitutes nearly the library’s entire collection of out-of-copyright books written during the 18th and 19th centuries, and make them available on both Google Books and the library’s website. In addition, Google has launched a joint project with several institutions, including UC Berkeley and and the University of Southhampton, to map out the relationship between location and literature via Google Earth.Inside Google BooksGuardian The iPad app for O, the Oprah Magazine that Hearst is expected to roll out sometime this fall will, according to […]
People and Announcements
Dan Smetanka has been named Editor-at-large for both Counterpoint and Soft Skull Press. Previously he was a senior editor with Phoenix Books, and brings over six titles originally on the now-closed publisher’s schedule to Counterpoint, starting with 51/50: The Magical Adventures of a Single Life by Kristen McGuiness, due for publication on August 31. Smetanka will remain in Los Angeles and will acquire fiction, narrative nonfiction, memoir, current events, and history titles. Brin Stevens has joined Velveteen Films to help launch their new book-to-film department. VarietyBarnes & Noble is partnering with Blackboard through its new NOOKStudy program that “aims to […]
BBC Sales Majority Stake of Audiobooks Arm to AudioGo LTD
BBC Worldwide has sold an 85% stake in BBC Audiobooks, including the Rhode Island-based American division, to AudioGo Limited, a group of investors gathered by a trio of former PolyGram executives. Following the sale, BBC Audiobooks America will trade as AudioGo, and will continue to publish BBC-sourced content under the BBC Audio imprint.Guardian
BN Trial: A Vote Against the Poison Pill May Trigger It Anyway
On the fourth and final day of testimony in Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa Delaware court suit challenging Barnes & Noble’s poison pill, board director Michael del Giudice testified that any investor holding more than 20 percent of the book seller’s shares decide to vote against the poison pill at the annual shareholder meeting in November, that move would itself would trigger the pill. “If they have an agreement or understanding to do so, that’s the problem,” said Del Giudice. But when pressed to define what, exactly “the problem” was that could trigger the pill, Del Giudice was more vague: “I don’t […]
Briefs: 2 Million Copy First Printing for ‘The Secret’ Follow-up; Poetry a Hard Sell in E-Form; ; And More
Atria has announced a 2 million copy first printing for THE POWER, Rhonda Byrne’s follow-up to THE SECRET, which will be published next month.AP The AP also looks at why poetry has proven to be “the least adaptable to the growing e-book market”: no one’s quite certain how to figure out how to keep the integrity of a poem intact in digital formats.AP This week’s NYT trend piece: nanny lit isn’t going away, it’s just changed, “showcasing complex and imperfect nannies whose personal stories intersect with thorny larger questions about race, class, immigration and parenthood.”NYT The estate of Adrien Jacobs […]