Last year the books that had sold the best won the two main National Book Awards but this year provide pointed contrast, with the novel that had sold the least paired with the nonfiction book that sold the most. Jaimy Gordon’s just-released LORD OF MISRULE from McPherson, with three-digit print sales in its first two weeks on the market, prevailed in the fiction category. Meanwhile, Patti Smith’s award-winning nonfiction title JUST KIDS had already outsold the rest of the nonfiction field combined. Paperback rights to Gordon’s book were sold to Vintage earlier this month (with her next book sold separately […]
Archives for November 2010
Financial Crisis Report Delayed
As some observers had anticipated, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission announced that it will deliver its report some time in January 2011 rather than on December 15, as previously planned. They say “the additional time will allow the Commission to produce and disseminate a report which best serves the public interest and more fully informs the President, the Congress and the American people about the facts and causes of the crisis.” The Commission and new trade publisher Public Affairs are expected to announce a new publication date shortly.
Random House to Close Operations at Tricycle Press Imprint
Random House Children’s Books is closing the Berkeley-based Tricycle Press imprint, acquired as part of Ten Speed Press, on January 31, 2011. They will continue to “sell and support” the Tricycle backlist and will decide soon what label forthcoming titles will be published under. Publisher Nicole Geiger and the four editorial staff members will leave the company as result. Tricycle marketing and publicity manager Laura Mancuso will remain as part of Random House Children’s.
Hachette Livre and Google Craft Their Own Settlement for French Books
Hachette Livre in France, which filed multiple objections to the still-pending Google Books Settlement, announced today “a memorandum of understanding that defines the terms for Google to scan Hachette Livre’s French language books” that effectively substitutes direct agreement for what the settlement had originally proposed for “commercially unavailable” books from around the world. The parties have six months of “fine tuning” to craft a binding agreement, and they envision the agreement as a template whose “basic terms and conditions will be made available to all French publishers.” Like the settlement, the agreement focuses on in-copyright, “commercially unavailable” works published by […]
Copia Opens, But They Aren’t Ready
Copia has finally “soft-launched,” moving from private beta to public beta yesterday though with no official announcement of the service’s debut yet. Among industry players they have partnered with in various ways are GoodReads, LibraryThing, and FiledBy, integrating content from those services. They also offer seven free books, all from Rosetta Books, to people who register for the service. The initial apps work on personal computers, the iPad and WIndows Phone 7, with Android and a Copia Touch App listed as “coming soon.” As promised way back in early January, the site is as much about social connections and discussion […]
Quotable Views: Agent Emanuel, and Author O’Dell
Tough-talking William Morris Endeavor Entertainment co-CEO Ari Emanuel was interviewed at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, covered by paidContent, where he set himself (and the agency) up as the next Andrew Wylie. After an underwhelming first pass at literary representation when Endeavor as on its own, “Emanuel said one of the motivations behind merging Endeavor with William Morris last year was to get his hands on the book business, where Endeavor had no skin in the game. The reason it’s so appetizing, he said, is because it’s ripe for disintermediation. “‘I definitely don’t think I have to go […]