On March 1, the Appellate Division of New York State Supreme Court unanimously upheld a 2010 court decision that ruled the Peter Lampack Agency could not collect commissions on a novel by former client Martha Grimes that was an option book on a prior agreement, but whose terms were agreed upon with her publisher Penguin under a separate contract. (For more information on the original case, click here; Grimes and Penguin also recently settled a related suit with respect to legal fees and unpaid royalties as well.) The court said the contracts at issue in the case between Grimes and […]
Archives for March 2012
Backlist eBooks by John Updike and Judy Blume Coming Soon From Random House
Random House will release a number of backlist ebook editions by two of the company’s flagship authors, John Updike and Judy Blume. With respect to Updike, who died in 2009, “the entire backlist” will appear soon in digital format, the majority for the first time. (You may recall that Updike’s Rabbit Angstrom tetralogy appeared briefly as ebooks under the Odyssey Editions banner, the fledgling ebook company launched in 2010 by the Wylie Agency, and the Random House took over ebook publication.) Meanwhile, Random House Children’s will release ebook editions in North America of 10 of Blume’s books for children and […]
People, Etc.
Julia Haav has joined Yale University Press as publicist. She was previously publicist in the New York offices of Europa Editions. At Chronicle Books, Emily Haynes has been promoted to senior editor, entertainment. Andrea Au Levitt has joined Reader’s Digest as a senior editor, acquiring and developing health and food books. She was projects director, Prevention Books at Rodale. Lara Hancock will move to Simon & Schuster UK Children’s as editorial director for picture books and novelty in early May. She is currently publishing director for picture books and gift at Egmont UK. The PEN American Center has elected Peter […]
Google eBooks Are Merged Into New Google Play App and Entertainment Store
Google launched their new online digital entertainment supersite Google Play on Tuesday, featuring online movie rentals, digital music, apps, and yes, ebooks all in one store. The new site has subsumed the previous standalone Google eBooks, which is now apparently known as Books on Google Play. (In an interesting stylistic decision, most of the time digital reading files are simply called “books” though occasionally they slip up and call them ebooks.) Within the ebook vertical, a slicker interface and more aggressive promotions include a “25-cent Play of the Day,” promoting Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, with Google […]
Russell & Volkening Is Acquired By Lippincott Massie McQuilkin
Literary agency Russell & Volkening, founded in 1940 by Diarmuid Russell and Henry Volkening and acquired in 1972 by Timothy Seldes, has found a new home after a lengthy search that began in early 2011. Lippincott Massie McQuilkin has acquired the agency and will operate it “intact” and intends to maintain the agency’s name as well. Seldes will retire and William Critzman, who has been acting president since May 2011, will step down once the acquisition is complete. Last May, three of the younger members of R&V left to form their own agency, Hannigan Salky Getzler Agency, taking their clients with […]
Gabriel Garcia Marquez eBooks Available Through Co-Venture Between Leer-e and Random House Mondadori
On the eve of his 85th birthday Tuesday, Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s international bestseller 100 YEARS OF SOLITUDE is now available in ebook format in multiple Spanish-speaking countries thanks to a co-publishing arrangement between Garcia Marquez’s longtime print publisher Random House Mondadori and Spanish ebook company Leer-e. It’s the fourth book by Garcia Marquez to be published in a digital edition, as CHRONICLE OF A DEATH FORETOLD, LIVING TO TELL THE TALE, and THE STORY OF A SHIPWRECKED SAILOR were previously released in November 2010. (The digital list price for SOLITUDE is 5.82 euros before tax, and is available […]