In a written statement on Thursday issued through publisher Doubleday and posted on his website, author John Grisham apologized for remarks he made to the UK’s Telegraph in an interview: “Anyone who harms a child for profit or pleasure, or who in any way participates in child pornography — online or otherwise — should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. My comments made two days ago during an interview with the British newspaper The Telegraph were in no way intended to show sympathy for those convicted of sex crimes, especially the sexual molestation of children. I can […]
Archives for October 2014
McSweeney’s Becomes a Nonprofit
San Francisco-based publisher McSweeney’s announced it will go forward as a nonprofit organization, with the intent of obtaining 501(c)3 status next year. For now McSweeney’s, founded in 1998, will run as a fiscally sponsored project of SOMArts, which runs the South of Market Cultural Center in San Francisco. In a telephone interview with the SF Chronicle founder Dave Eggers explained the move: “We’ve always been a hand-to-mouth operation, and every year it gets just a little harder to be an independent publisher. An independent literary title that might have sold 10,000 copies 10 years ago might sell 6,000 now, for example.” […]
Books Sales Fall Again At WH Smith, As Profits Improve
WH Smith reported preliminary results for fiscal 2014, with sales at their High Street stores falling 6 percent to £684 million. Book sales overall fell more, down 8 percent for the year as the “market continues to be challenging” (after declining 6 percent in the previous year). Same-store sales were down 5 percent, but their cost savings program helped profit for the segment rise 4 percent to £58 million. The company notes: “While the eBooks market continues to see growth, it is evolving as we had expected with rates of growth and value penetration slowing. eBooks remain a relatively small […]
Warner Bros. Will Make 3 Movies From Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Warner Bros. announced future “strategic content plans” at an investor conference on Wednesday that included confirmation they will make three movies out of JK Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. When the “expanded creative partnership” with Rowling was announced a little over a year ago, they simply said that the movie for which Rowling was writing the screenplay was “planned as the first picture in a new film series.” Now Warner indicates the first movie will be released in 2016, with the subsequent two following in 2018 and 2020. The studio will release three more LEGO-branded movies over the next […]
People
Eric Schwartz joined the Columbia University Press as editorial director last month. He replaces Jennifer Crewe, who was promoted to president and director of the Press in June. He was senior editor for sociology and cognitive science at Princeton University Press since 2008. Doug Lockhart will join Harper Christian as senior vice president of Bible marketing and outreach. He was at Zondervan publishing partner Biblica, the copyright holder and worldwide publisher of the New International Version (NIV) Bible translation. Harper calls the appointment “a strategic decision to continue the focus on its Bible business.” Alyson Forbes will join Hachette Book Group as […]
TPG Plans Majority Stake In CAA
The NY Post reports that private equity firm TPG plans to increase their stake in CAA from a 35-percent share to a controlling 51-percent holding. That deal “could be announced within the week, one source familiar with the talks said.” The paper’s sources say the long-term objective of taking control is to put the agency on a path to an IPO. (In other words, TPG has to increase their investment first in order to build a pathway to an exit.) “There is no real easy exit as it stands,” one source says. “The thought is to buy it and build […]