Last week Forbes uncovered two previously unreported lawsuits in US tax court which saw thriller writer Karin Slaughter square off against the Internal Revenue Service. While the suits themselves are interesting on their own, they are particularly relevant for authors with respect to the classification of book royalties as self-employment income, something the IRS has held for more than six decades. The first suit, which Slaughter settled with the IRS in July, covered the 2008 tax year, for which the IRS “had been demanding $146,155 in tax and a $29,231 penalty on top of the $1.14 million [Slaughter] originally paid.” […]
Archives for September 2014
NYT to Add 12 New Monthly Bestseller Lists and Feature Selected Niche Lists In Print
The New York Times will start offering a new set of focused, monthly bestseller lists as of the September 21 issue of the NYT Book Review, and will continue to roll out new lists into 2015, adding 12 new lists in all. More importantly, they will at least a couple of the new “niche lists” a week in the print edition. The press release says four, but the 9/21 package includes two of the new lists. The fine print explains, “This page features a rotating combination of weekly best sellers — Paperback Trade Fiction, Mass-Market Fiction, Paperback Nonfiction, Advice, How-To and […]
People: New CEO for Andrews McMeel, and More
Andrews McMeel Universal has hired Andy Sareyan as president and CEO, effective November 3, reporting to chairman John McMeel and vice chairman Hugh Andrews. After relocating to Kansas City, Sareyan will oversee all AMU operations, comprising Universal Uclick, Andrews McMeel Publishing, and AMUSE. Sareyn was most recently president of National Journal Group and executive vice president at Atlantic Media. Prior to that he was president and chief brand officer at Meredith Corporation, after 18 years to Time Inc. in positions including president of Entertainment Weekly and founding publisher of Real Simple. McMeel says in the announcement, “His exceptional experience and understanding of the worlds […]
More Facts From Barnes & Noble’s Filings
As usual, Barnes & Noble’s formal quarterly report to the SEC includes some additional details of interest not included in Tuesday’s press release and investor call, though this time around those additional disclosures are pretty modest. In the most recent quarter, BN customers activated just $6.2 million of the credits available to them as part of the first portion of the ebook pricing litigation settlements. That ratifies the inference that a good portion of the $166 million in credits were used shortly after being made available in late March — since as of May 3 BN customers almost half of their […]
Coincidentally, Amazon’s Apple Settlement Notifications Immediately Follow Apple’s Event
Isn’t it an amazing coincidence that just as Apple is receiving massive media coverage for their introduction of new iPhones, Apple Pay and Apple Watch, Amazon has dispatched the latest round of consumer notification emails to ebook purchasers about the pending settlement with Apple? Of course consumer notification is “directed” by the court, so Amazon has to do this — as will all the other etailers (including the iBookstore) at some point. So consider this Amazon’s response to Apple’s recent promotion of books by George Orwell…. The salient point for consumers is that they only have until October 31 to […]
Agency Celebrations
It’s a big month for celebrating milestone anniversaries for a number of well-known literary agencies. Writers House went first on Tuesday night to commemorate their 40th, at the Morgan Library, joined by over 500 people. (The event also served as a surprise 83rd birthday celebration for Writers House founder and chairman emeritus Al Zuckerman.) Over the course of September, additional agency events will honor Inkwell Management (10 years old), Curtis Brown (100 years old), and Levine Greenberg Rostan (25 years old).