The Authors Guild has elected novelist Roxana Robinson as their new president, taking over from Scott Turow after four years of service. She is joined by Judy Blume, Richard Russo, and James Shapiro as co-vice presidents. CJ Lyons joined the Guild’s executive Council. With her addition, the organization notes, “we now have our first self-published author on our board.” On the lawsuits against Google and HathiTrust pursued aggressively during his tenure, Turow said, “Groundbreaking lawsuits are most often decided in higher courts. We know we were right to bring these cases, and we expect to prevail at the end of […]
Archives for March 2014
Kobo Continues to Press Case to Preserve Agency In Canada
Kobo continues to press their motion to rescind the ebook pricing consent agreements in Canada between the Competition Commission and the four agency publishers that we first reported on last week. In a memorandum of fact filed March 10, they reiterated their primary argument that “without a stay, Kobo will be irreparably harmed. Its contracts with four of the largest E-book publishers in Canada will be terminated or fundamentally altered. Kobo – not the Consenting Publishers – will bear the financial losses arising from these changes.” As in the US, the Commission has focused on their predictions that “the price […]
Fink, Adichie Top NBCC Winners
The 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award winners were named at the New School in New York on Thursday night. The winners are: Fiction AMERICANAH, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Knopf) Nonfiction FIVE DAYS AT MEMORIAL, Sheri Fink (Crown) Autobiography FAREWELL, FRED VOODOO, Amy Wilentz (Simon & Schuster) Biography JONATHAN SWIFT, Leo Damrosch (Yale University Press) Criticism DISTANT READING, Franco Moretti (Verso) Poetry METAPHYSICAL DOG, Frank Bidart (Farrar, Straus)
People, Etc.
Next month the London Book Fair will present agent Deborah Rogers, ceo of Rogers, Coleridge & White, with their annual lifetime achievement award. In the announcement, chair of Penguin Random House UK Gail Rebuck comments: “Deborah Rogers is a legendary agent who has made an unsurpassed contribution to a thriving publishing business. Her entrepreneurial spirit in setting up an agency in the 1960s and seeing it grow successfully, adding brilliant new agents over the years is beyond compare. Deborah is equally known for nurturing the careers of an enviable list of authors where her genius has been not only to […]
Asimov Estate and Trident Media Spar in Court Over Termination
For those wondering why large portions of science fiction writer Isaac Asimov’s voluminous backlist remain unavailable, a recent dispute between the author’s estate and Trident Media Group may provide a partial answer. The case is also worth watching for any literary agency based in New York (or with New York clients) that has an automatic renewal clause. The essence of the dispute is this: The Asimov estate, overseen by his widow Janet and daughter Robyn, sought to terminate their representation agreement with Trident in November 2013 after 5 years of working together. TMG told them they would have to wait until the expiration […]
Microsoft Will Try Again with “Microsoft Consumer Reader”
Microsoft has expanded ambitions for the ebook market beyond their existing partnership with Nook Media, indicated through amendments to their contract with Barnes & Noble filed with the SEC. As with the previous agreements, key portions are redacted, but the important development is plans to release a Microsoft Consumer Reader. The description of that forthcoming product is omitted, but sample slides submitted to the SEC show what appears to be a Microsoft ebookstore, which will be “powered by Nook.” Once the Microsoft Consumer Reader (yes, they have a knack for consumer product names, don’t they?) is launched, Nook Media is […]