The American Library Association announced the creation of two new task forces, the presidential task force on Equitable Access to Electronic Content (EQUACC) and the E-book Task Force, to address “recent publisher changes affecting libraries’ ability to provide e-books to the public,” namely HarperCollins’ stance on capping e-book lending. In a meeting this week, the EQUACC recommended the ALA “conduct an environmental scan to understand the current landscape and project future scenarios”, work within and outside ALA “to improve access to electronic information for all, with a particular focus on people with disabilities,” identify and support new e-lending models, and […]
Archives for March 2011
People, Awards, Etc.
Former Executive Vice President and Worldwide Head of Literary Operations for William Morris Agency Owen Laster, 72, died this morning after a short illness. Laster represented a distinguished and diverse roster of bestselling and literary authors, ranging from Ralph Ellison, Chaim Potok, Robert Penn Warren, Gay Talese, Edward Albee, and Gore Vidal, to James Michener, Dominic Dunne, Susan Isaacs, Andrew Grove, William Diehl, and Judith McNaught. A New Jersey native, Laster graduated from Syracuse University, and after serving in the Army worked at William Morris for over forty years. Laura Nolan has joined Paradigm as a literary agent and will […]
Borders Lease Costs, Remaining Australian Stores for Sale, and Indie Closings
In reporting their recent quarterly earnings, Agree Realty took a $7.7 million impairment charge related to four leases for Borders stores that are currently being liquidated and another two stores that were closed earlier in the year. They retain exposure on additional store leases, as well as the lease on the Borders headquarters building in Ann Arbor. The company reduced their dividend by 22 percent because of Borders, which they say “should provide the company with sufficient liquidity and flexibility to accommodate any further development in the bankruptcy.”Crains Detroit Last Friday the Borders bankruptcy judge declined to hear arguments on […]
People, Authors, Etc.
Knopf publisher Sonny Mehta will receive the London Book Fair’s Lifetime Achievement Award in International Publishing. Nancy Planitzer is joining Greater Talent Network as an account executive as part of their Publishers Speakers Bureaus division (which works with both SImon & Schuster and Hachette Book Group). She was formerly an account coordinator with the Macmillan Speakers Bureau. Franklin & Siegal has been appointed literary scout for China Citic Press in Beijing. Michael Chabon and his wife Ayelet Waldman are co-writing and executive producing a drama for HBO, currently called Hobgoblin, about “a motley group of con-men and magicians who use […]
eNews: Avon Launches New Digital Imprint; Kobo Closes New Funding Round; and More
Yesterday Avon announced its digital-first imprint, Avon Impulse, which will feature ebook novels and novellas (with POD editions also available) by current Avon authors and aims to “seek new talent to nurture in an e-book marketplace that finds romance experiencing expansive growth.” The first title will be Katherine Ashe’s enovella, “A Lady’s Wish,” released next week, with plans to publish at least one new title every week going forward. Authors will not receive an advance, but will get 25 percent net royalties for the first 10,000 copies sold, and 50 percent thereafter. Unlike Harlequin’s digital imprint Carina Press, Avon Impulse […]
Fleetwood Mac Album Producer Sues HarperCollins For Breach of Contract
Ken Caillat is best known in the music business as the man who produced Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 album Rumours, one of the best-selling rock records of all time. That credential in turn garnered him a $555,000 advance from HarperCollins’ It Books imprint to write Starting Rumours, an oral history of the making of that record, which the publisher won at auction from Caillat’s agent Peter McGuigan of Foundry Media. But last month, Caillat filed suit against the publisher in Ventura County Superior Court alleging that he was rightfully owed his entire advance, and that HarperCollins had breached their contract by […]