Lydia Wills, formerly the head of the Paradigm Literary division, has formed Lydia Wills LLC, a literary and multimedia agency. She will “oversee and manage the daily activities of several new media and web-based ventures” undertaken in partnership with Neal Baer. Baer, who is executive producer of Law & Order SVU, is also represented by Lydia for his three book deal with Kensington. She will continue to represent her literary clients, including Denis Leary, Steven Johnson, Daniel Mendelsohn, Matt Taibbi, and John Dean among others. Amanda Stewart has left Severn House after 11 years as publishing director. At Penguin Canada, […]
Archives for March 2011
Briefs: ‘Heaven Is For Real’ A Sleeper Hit; Whitcoulls For Sale; Continuing Fenn Fallout; And More
Heaven Is For Real, recounting evangelical pastor Todd Burpo‘s the-four year old son Colton’s otherworldly experience while undergoing surgery for a burst appendix, has proven to be a sleeper paperback hit for Thomas Nelson. The publisher tells the NYT the book (co-written with Sarah Palin ghostwriter Lynn Vincent) had “broken company sales records”, going back to press 22 times on an initial print run of 40,000 copies since the book’s November release. There are now more than 1.5 million copies in print (and “hundreds of thousands of copies” sold) with strong sales in both Barnes & Noble and Christian specialty markets. […]
Eyes Wide Open: Agent Shops A Sheen Deal
The Charlie Sheen circus is visiting book publishing this week as Foundry Literary + Media agent Peter McGuigan has been eliciting offers for a Charlie Sheen book. McGuigan didn’t comment to Crain’s New York (which had the first report) or the AP. Sheen himself said in one of his ustream performances that he would like to write a book called Apocalypse Me: the Jaws of Life, and suggested that it should be an ebook exclusive since “we need to save trees. I love trees.” Crain’s believes McGuigan is “close to making a deal” (without exploring the tricky issue of whether […]
Borders Creditors Say Financing Favors Lenders Too Much–And Warn Bookseller Needs A Real Plan By June
The committee of unsecured Borders creditors filed an objection in bankruptcy court Thursday afternoon over the terms of Borders’ debtor-in-possession financing, which they view to be “unreasonable, overreaching and otherwise inappropriate.” The main contention is that Borders borrowed more money than they actually need, creating oversized fees in the millions of dollars for lenders, which only reduces the available funds to pay back creditors. The filing argues that the lenders used their leverage “to impose the objectionable provisions” which Borders was “forced to agree to,” knowing that the bookseller “was on the brink of collapse” before filing for Chapter 11.” […]
NBCC Awards; New Imprints; and More
The National Book Critics Circle Awards went to: A Visit From the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan (Fiction) The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson (General Nonfiction) How to Live: Or A Life of Montaigne by Sarah Bakewell (Biography) Half a Life, by Darin Straus (Autobiography) One with Others, by C.D. Wright (Poetry) Lyric Poetry and Modern Poetry — Russia, Poland, and the West, by Claire Cavanaugh (Criticism) NBCC Release Online comedy video site Funny or Die will start a line of books under the banner of Funny or Die Books, starting this July with an e-book of celebrity satire […]
eNews: 6 Million Readers in Fourth Quarter; GoodReads Acquires Rcommendation Service
IDC has released the headline data from their fourth quarter tracking of shipments (not consumer sales) of media tablets and ereaders. They say that over 6 million ereaders shipped during the holiday quarter, over the twice the volume from the end of 2009, with a tabulation of 12.8 million ereaders shipped worldwide in 2010. IDC gives Kindle a 48 percent share for both the quarter and the year, comprising about 2.9 million units in the final quarter and 6.15 million units for 2010. Pandigital “edged out Barnes and Noble for the number 2 spot” in the last quarter, “although the […]