Wiley’s remaining grab-bag of trade publishing titles for disposal–their pets and crafts lines; brands and lines including Howell Book House and Baseball Prospectus; and other books, comprising 1,500 titles in all–have been sold to Turner Publishing in a deal that closed April 2. Terms were not disclosed today but, as with Wiley’s asset sales to Google and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, will likely be acknowledged in their next quarterly report. Turner president and publisher Todd Bottorff said “this strategic acquisition broadens Turner’s list…and represents an exciting growth opportunity within the crafts, pets, and general interest areas.” Indeed, it more than doubles […]
Archives for April 2013
Court Clears Michael Lewis and Norton on Defamation Charges
Last week New York District Court Judge George B. Daniels ruled in favor of author Michael Lewis and his publisher Norton (as well as hedge fund manager Steve Eisman) in a defamation case brought by Wing Chau over passages in a chapter of THE BIG SHORT. As Judge Daniels notes at the end of the ruling–which reads like a blurb for the book–about Chau, who “was one of the largest CDO managers of sub-prime mortgage-backed securities,” that: “Many now view investments in subprime mortgage bonds, and their subsequent disastrous default, as significantly responsible for the greatest economic crisis since the […]
Amazon and the Big Six Agree
The class action lawsuit brought by independent booksellers has gotten Amazon and the six largest trade publishers to agree on something: they all think the suit is without merit and should be dismissed. Since the suit appears to be a proxy action against Amazon’s market power more than anything else, their reply is likely of more interest. Amazon argues that in the ebook pricing suits Judge Cote already “determined that complaints by ‘industry stakeholders like bookstores’ about harm from Amazon’s low prices and innovations were not the basis for a legitimate antitrust claim.” Amazon turns their reply into a celebration […]
Judge Throws Out Class Action Suit Against Harlequin Alleging eBook Royalty Deprivation
On Tuesday a federal court class-action lawsuit against Harlequin for allegedly depriving authors of ebook royalties was dismissed, with Judge Harold Baer ruling that Harlequin had abided by the terms of their contracts and that the plaintiff authors — Barbara Keiler, Mona Gay Thomas, and Linda Barrett – did not sufficiently state a claim that they had lost significant ebook royalties between 1990 and 2004. The original complaint alleged that Harlequin improperly licensed ebook rights to their own Switzerland-based subsidiaries, yielding authors a small royalty–“3 to 4 percent of the ebook cover price”–as their 50 percent share of proceeds, rather […]
People, Awards, Etc.
Author Iain Banks reported in a statement that he has inoperable late-stage metastatic gall bladder cancer and is “extremely unlikely” to live for more than another year. “So it looks like my latest novel, The Quarry, will be my last…. Meanwhile my heroic publishers are doing all they can to bring the publication date of my new novel forward by as much as four months, to give me a better chance of being around when it hits the shelves.” At Little, Brown Children’s, Pam Gruber has been promoted to associate editor. At McGill-Queen’s University Press, Susan McIntosh has been promoted to associate director. Berlin-based […]
Bookstore Briefs
Literati Bookstore opened in downtown Ann Arbor on Sunday. Richard and Lisa Howorth’s Square Books in Oxford, Miss has been selected as PW’s bookstore of the year. And Bruce Joshua Miller of Miller Trade Book Marketing was named their rep of the year, after he led efforts to save the University of Missouri Press. AfterWords Books in Edwardsville, IL is using crowdfunding to raise enough money to get their new smaller store up to building code. As previously announced, the flagship Nicholas Hoare bookstore closed in Toronto on Monday. Hoare, 70, who is retiring, said: “The sendoff as sendoffs go […]