At Crown, Julian Pavia moves from the Archetype imprint to the trade paperback editorial team as editor, reporting to Sheila O’Shea. Pavia will acquire trade paperback originals for the Broadway Books list, with an emphasis on those types of genre fiction that lend themselves to innovative publishing approaches. He will also work on conversions and occasionally acquire titles for the Crown hardcover list. Founding editor of Cosmopolitan magazine and author of SEX AND THE SINGLE GIRL Helen Gurley Brown, 90, died Monday afternoon at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center. Simon & Schuster announced the title and subject of Bob Woodward‘s […]
Archives for August 2012
Wiley to Sell Frommer’s to Google
Wiley announced Monday morning it has “entered into a definitive agreement to sell all of its travel assets, including all of its interests in the Frommer’s brand,” to Google. The deal is said to include approximately 350 travel guides and the Frommers.com website. Terms of the sale were not released, which seems a little silly, since it’s material enough to Wiley that they will report it eventually. “A person close to the deal” tells the NYT Google will pay about $23 million, while “a person briefed on the deal” tells the WSJ the price is “around $25 million.” That’s not inconsistent with the size […]
Court Finds Georgia State University the “Prevailing Party” In Fair Use Case and Awards Them Legal Fees
Last Friday, US Northern District Judge Orinda Evans clarified the ambiguous May ruling in the closely-watched copyright infringement case originally brought in 2008 against Georgia State University. Ruling on the relief for the five cases of copyright infringement in May’s 350-page ruling, Judge Evans essentially declared GSU the real winner in the case, ordering the plaintiffs to pay their legal fees. Which raises an interesting question that no one has been able to answer for us yet: Though the case was brought by Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, and SAGE Publications, the legal costs of trying the case have […]
Kohn Argues That DOJ Showed Amazon Engaged In Predatory Pricing, And Publisher Response Has to be Legal
Attorney and entrepreneur Bob Kohn continues to aggressively challenge the Department of Justice’s ebook price-fixing case, asking Judge Denise Cote in a series of filings Monday for permission to file an amicus curiae brief of 25 pages (plus an appendix of 12 additional pages), in specific reply to the DOJ’s responses to the public comments. Kohn adds to the calls from other parties for the Judge to hold a hearing before ruling, arguing that to determine if the settlement “is in the public interest, it would be perverse if this decision were made without a public hearing.” He also asks […]
People, Etc.
Kristin Meenagh has joined Ryland Peters and Small as publicity associate. She was previously with Raab Associates. Jean Merrill, author of more than 30 novels for children that dealt with themes of underdogs beating the odds, died August 2 at her home in Randolph, VT. She was 89 and the cause of death was cancer. Merrill’s work included THE PUSHCART WAR (1964), THE TOOTHPASTE MILLIONAIRE (1974), and THE GIRL WHO LOVED CATERPILLARS (1992). NYT Obit Sami Rohr, 86, the philanthropist honored by an annual prize for Jewish Literature that bears his name (endowed by his children), died last Sunday in […]
Briefs: Harper Will Convert DIESEL Books Into Temporary Record Store To Promote Chabon Novel; Nook Device Prices Drop; And More
As part of its extensive marketing campaign for Michael Chabon’s forthcoming novel TELEGRAPH AVENUE, Harper will convert the Oakland branch of California independent Diesel Books into Brokeland Records — which is the record store co-owned by the main characters in Chabon’s book — between September 7 and 14, the WSJ reports. The store, which will host the launch party for TELEGRAPH AVENUE on September 12, “will sell used jazz records provided by an independent record dealer named Berigan Taylor” and Harper is creating exterior Brokeland Records signage and merchandise. Barnes & Noble has dropped the price of its tablet devices, […]