Simon & Schuster will publish Bob Dylan‘s THE LYRICS: Since 1962, on October 28. They call it “the first comprehensive, rigorously annotated, and definitive collection of Bob Dylan’s lyrics to be published” and say it is the product of a collaboration “over many years between Dylan and a team of editors led by Sir Christopher Ricks, Warren Professor of the Humanities and codirector of the Editorial Institute at Boston University.” The full-color volume of 1,034 pages will be limited to a single printing of 3,000 copies, retailing for $200 each. Separately, Dylan will sell 50 boxed, numbered and signed editions […]
Archives for October 2014
The Talk of Frankfurt 2015: A Bertelsmann Buyout of Pearson’s Penguin Random House Share?
A Bloomberg article restates the already-known in provocative fashion: “Bertelsmann intends to increase its stake in book-publishing venture Penguin Random House as early as next year, according to people familiar with the matter. Bertelsmann, owner of 53 percent of the New York-based business, plans to acquire part or all of the 47 percent held by Pearson, the people said, asking not to be named discussing private deliberations. While Bertelsmann and Pearson aren’t in talks, Pearson is willing to sell and can do so starting October 2015 under a shareholder agreement, the people said.” Does the article actually say anything new and […]
Corporate: EC Investigates Amazon’s Tax Break; Frankfurt News; and More
The European Commission “opened an in-depth investigation” into the 2003 sweetheart tax deal between Luxembourg and Amazon. This is not the tax loophole that lets Amazon sell digital goods across Europe at Luxembourg’s low VAT rate, under the pretense that they are selling the items from that nation (and that loophole goes away in 2015 regardless). Rather, this is a deal that lets Amazon pay almost no corporate tax on their €13.6 billion in Euroeapn sales. In the current structure, the FT reports, Amazon’s Luxembourg operating unit showed minimal profit of €29 million on those sales, though it paid €2.1 […]
People, Awards, Etc.
Literary agent Loretta Barrett, 74, died peacefully in Manhattan from complications of a brain tumor, her agency reports. Barrett began working in publishing in 1967 as an editor at Anchor Press, where she was promoted to editor-in-chief in 1970. She left Doubleday in 1990 to start her agency, Loretta Barrett Books. Barrett served on board of directors of Reading is Fundamental for 32 years, most recently as secretary, and in 2011 the organization honored her efforts, reporting that she was personally responsible for an estimated 3 million new books being given to poor American children to keep as their own. […]
Awards, Etc.
Canada’s Giller Prize announced their shortlist on Monday: David Bezmogzis, The Betrayers (Little, Brown/Harper Canada) Frances Itani, Tell (Black Cat (forthcoming)/Harper Canada) Sean Michaels, Us Conductors (Tin House/RH Canada) Heather O’Neill, The Girl Who Was Saturday Night (FSG/Harper Canada) Miriam Toews, All My Puny Sorrows (McSweeney’s/Knopf Canada) Padma Viswanathan, The Ever After of Ashwin Rao (RH Canada) The Governor General’s Literary Awards also announced their shortlists Tuesday in a number of categories, with the winners to be announced on November 18. The fiction finalists include: Michael Crummey, Sweetland (Liveright/Doubleday Canada) Bill Gaston, Juliet Was a Surprise (Hamish Hamilton) Claire Holden Rothman, […]
Last Day for The Best Prices
A short reminder: As we indicated on Friday, today is the last day to get tickets for our sixth Digital Book World Conference January 14 and 15 — and the return of our one-day Publishers Launch Kids event on January 13 at the lowest, “early” pricing. Also remember to use our Publishers Lunch discount code/link for additional savings on individual conference tickets.