Clive Cussler spent years engaging in a costly, complicated lawsuit with Philip Anschutz over script approval on the film flop Sahara, based on one of Cussler’s Dirk Pitt novels, which ended in a stalemate. (Both sides claimed victory but neither prevailed in winning attorney fees.) Now, Deadline reports, Cussler has filed a fresh complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court claiming that a man named John Fassett, who “represents himself as a motion picture and film producer,” has been representing that he controls the rights to Cussler’s Oregon Files series of adventure novels. The suit asserts that Fassett was “using names […]
Archives for October 2013
People: S&S Editor Among Those Injured In Riverside Attack
Simon & Schuster senior editor Ben Loehnen was among those injured in Tuesday morning’s random slashings in Riverside Park. Loehnen was stabbed in the stomach while walking his dogs. The NYT says “at first [he] thought he had been punched in the gut, but then saw the blood and realized he had been stabbed.” (The attacker was said to wield part of a pair of scissors). We were told informally by others that Loehnen was recovering following surgery, and in an updated version the NYT confirmed he was “doing well.” Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said that none of the victims faced life-threatening injuries. The attacker […]
Bookselling: Tattered Cover Keeps Downtown Lease, Loses One Floor; Chapitre Bookstores for Sale in France; and More
Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver, Colorado will stay put in its current downtown location (one of three stores, which the bookstore has rented since 1994) but with a catch: it must consolidate two floors into one. Owner Joyce Meskis told the Denver Business Journal that “in January, we will start the demolition of the [store’s] grand staircase with the goal of being resettled in our reconfigured first-floor space by mid-March.” Meskis did not disclose terms of the new rental deal, but added the one-floor store will have “approximately the same number of books,” with “much more tightly packed” shelves, but […]
Scribd Joins the eBook Subscription Race
Scribd has officially rolled out an expanded version of their ebook subscription program, now promoted front-and-center on the site and boasting “the majority” of HarperCollins’ backlist among the available titles. Scribd’s program offers unlimited online access (and up to10 downloaded titles) for $8.99 month — including a free month’s trial. While the current deals are with US publishers, whenever rights are available the books are available to Scribd’s 80 million users across 100 countries. Harper has contributed “far more [titles] than the other two subscription deals that we did, which were about a couple of thousands titles,” ceo Brian Murray […]
October Bookseller Picks
Amazon named their best books of October, with Donna Tartt’s novel as their “spotlight” pick and Graeme Simsion’s novel (excerpted in our free Publishers Lunch Fall/Winter Buzz Books ebook sampler) as the “featured debut.” Two more Buzz Books from Elizabeth Gilbert and Luke Barr also make the list: The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt The Rosie Project, Graeme Simsion The Signature of All Things, Elizabeth Gilbert Provence, 1970, Luke Barr Thank You for Your Service, David Finkel One Summer: America, 1927, Bill Bryson Allegiant (Divergent Trilogy), Veronica Roth Humans of New York, Brandon Stanton The Night Guest, Fiona McFarlane The Circle, Dave […]
Talk About Timely: Newsmakers and Leaders, Up Close
Our big Publishers Launch Frankfurt conference is just a week away, on Tuesday, October 8 — presented in cooperation with The Frankfurt Academy — and will stand as the fair’s premier publishing and digital strategy event with a series of timely, newsmaking and accomplished speakers. Scribd’s new ebook subscription service is in the news today, and Scribd ceo Trip Adler is on our stage next week talking about it. Among other maturing new players, Wattpad made news for their publishing line with Sourcebooks and Goodreads has drawn headlines for trying to limit members and authors attacking each other on the site, and their […]