Just to confirm ourselves, we received additional confirmation from a current employee of Dorchester of our story that ceo John Prebich has left the company. Bob Anthony is now said to be in charge (and Prebich’s former extension now has a voice mail recording from Anthony). The company is said to be preparing a press release, so that’s all the detail we have for now.
Bestselling author and television personality Chelsea Handler has reportedly signed a new three-book deal, again with Grand Central, that creates for her a small imprint: Borderline Amazing/A Chelsea Handler Book. The deal seems to cover Lies that Chelsea Handler Told Me, for publication in May 2011, a book they will pretend was written by her dog Chunk, and an unspecified third book. Handler tells Deadline, “This is a different approach, getting all my friends and family involved, telling them how I’ve screwed them over. I’ll be editing and overseeing, while my family and friends make money off me and get something back from the torture I’ve put them through. I’ve got a couple other ideas and people I want to see write books.” Her producing partner Tom Brunelle will oversee the book line.
Deadline
At Harper Perennial, Amy Baker has been promoted to senior marketing director. She has been at Harper for 10 years.
As you might have imagined, Tina Brown‘s book THE CLINTON CHRONICLES, announced as a deal in early 2008, has been “postponed…indefinitely” according to Brown’s spokesperson.
Observer
Sarah Palin‘s coinage of “refudiate” has been chosen as Oxford University Press USA’s word of the year. (We’d give you the link, but the release seems to have brought their site to a constant crawl.)