Wednesday’s lunchtime talk between Patti Smith and Neil Young on the occasion of his upcoming book WAGING HEAVY PEACE — which he characterized as “not quite a memoir. It’s more like a diary and a projection” — was understandably a major event at BEA. As part of the wide-ranging conversation about Young’s career, how technology affected music, and the nature of memory, Smith told Young “I have read much of your book,” she said, “and one of the things I liked most about it is that there’s no barrier between the reader and you. It’s intimate. You’re talking. And it’s […]
Archives for June 2012
Barnes & Noble Says Settlement Overreaches, And Punishes the Wrong Parties
Barnes & Noble, with assistance from counsel David Boies at Boies, Schiller & Flexner, has filed a formal objection to the proposed settlement in the agency pricing case. In an argument reminiscent of the Department of Justice’s objections that led to the rejection of the Google Books settlement, BN argues that the settlement imposes “overreaching regulatory provisions” that “will transform the [Antitrust] Division into a regulator” and that the penalties imposed are not remedies actually “sought or mentioned” in the lawsuit itself. They argue that DOJ actually seeks to engage in the settlement in the very behavior they prosecuted for: “The Division […]
eNews: Smashwords Projects Gross Sales of $12M This Year; Faber Condenses Book Extracts into “Faber Forty-Fives”; and More
Smashwords ceo Mark Coker told Forbes that the company expects to double their gross revenues in 2012, to $12 million. They keep roughly 15 percent of that gross, and the company expects pre-tax profit “approaching $1 million.” Coker indicates that romance novels and erotica comprise nearly 40 percent of sales. This week Faber & Faber launched a six-title series, Faber Forty-Fives, of ebook-only extracts priced at £1.99 taken from books on the publisher’s Pop list by Simon Reynolds, Rob Chapman, Nick Kent, and others. Editor Dave Watkins said on Faber’s blog the publisher had been “toying with the idea for a […]
People, Etc.
Natasha Trethewey has been named the newest Poet Laureate by the US Library of Congress. NYT Philip Roth has won Spain’s Asturias Prize, given to an author “whose literary work represents a significant contribution to universal literature.” The Overlook Press will publish The Russian Library, an “ambitious one hundred and twenty five volume series of translated Russian fiction, drama, and poetry”, over the next ten years, the publisher announced Wednesday at BEA. Overlook is working with (and is sponsored by) Read Russia on the project, which will feature classic and contemporary Russian works and launch in Fall 2013 with five […]
People: Ray Bradbury, 91, Dies
Science fiction giant Ray Bradbury, 91, died Tuesday night in Los Angeles after a long illness, his grandson Danny Karapetian and biographer Sam Weller confirmed to i09. Bradbury, author of more than 600 short stories, and 30 novels including classic works such as THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES and FAHRENHEIT 451, had only this year made those two books and other novels available in digital editions, published by Simon & Schuster. “If I had to make any statement, it would be how much I love and miss him, and I look forward to hearing everyone’s memories about him,” Karapetian said. “He influenced […]
Burkle Divests BN Stock as Promised, Reducing Stake to Just 0.9 Percent
In a filing with the SEC Tuesday evening Ron Burkle revealed that his Yucaipa Cos. funds, Yucaipa American Alliance II and Yucaipa American Alliance Parallel Funds, had divested themselves of the bulk of the nearly 20 percent stake in Barnes & Noble on May 31. Yucaipa said it had distributed more than 11.9 million shares “in kind” on a pro rata basis to unnamed investors. When Yucaipa explained the original filing in mid-May, they insisted that the move was a reallocation among Burkle’s complicated interests, “distributing shares to some of its affiliates,” and not a move to sell or divest their stake. […]