Six months after winning a $1.8 million award from the Chris Kyle estate in his defamation lawsuit, former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura has filed suit against HarperCollins — publisher of AMERICAN SNIPER — in Minnesota Federal Court, seeking damages “in excess of $75,000” for defamation. As in the earlier suit against Kyle (and later, after his 2013 death, Kyle’s estate), Ventura takes issue with the “Scruff face” chapter in American Sniper, which documents an alleged fight between Kyle and Ventura and attributes anti-American remarks to Ventura which he denies ever making. “The publicity and controversy generated by the false and defamatory […]
Archives for December 2014
Google’s Top Book Searches for 2014
Google released their “trend” charts exploring the year in searches, across multiple categories. They do not seem to have tracked author searches this year, but they did list the top 10 “trending” book searches in the US: 1. Boy, Snow, Bird, Helen Oyeyemi 2. Blood Will Out, Walter Kirn 3. Savage Harvest, Carl Hoffman 4. City of Heavenly Fire, Cassandra Clare 5. Flash Boys, Michael Lewis 6. The Invention of Wings, Sue Monk Kidd 7. All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr 8. Words of Radiance, Brandon Sanderson 9. Yes Please, Amy Poehler 10. Capital in the Twenty First […]
People
Stephen Barbara will move to Inkwell Management on January 5 after six years at Foundry Literary + Media, and he will be followed by all 50 of his clients. He says in the announcement, “It’s an agency I’ve long admired, and I couldn’t miss the chance to work with such a world-class group of authors’ representatives.” New York Magazine book critic Kathryn Schulz is leaving to join the New Yorker, where she will “write book reviews, as well as web pieces and the occasional feature” according to Capital New York. Her first day is January 19. At National Geographic Books, Lisa Thomas has been promoted […]
All Sides Grilled During Oral Arguments for Apple’s Appeal
An extended oral arguments hearing Monday morning at the 2nd Circuit Court of appeals did not immediately make clear how the three-judge panel would rule on Apple’s appeal of 2013’s ebook antitrust trial, but it did show the court would not spare any side thorough questioning — often to entertaining effect. Ted Boutrous, arguing for Apple, spent much of his allotted 20 minutes comparing his client’s “extraordinary case on antitrust law” to that of Leegin, saying the precedent set by the Supreme Court in that case would be ignored if Judge Denise Cote’s 2013 ruling finding Apple guilty is allowed to stand. […]
First Report: Government Goes Long In Apple Appeals Court Argument
The scheduled one-hour Appeals Court hearing on Apple’s appeal of Judge Denise Cote’s ruling finding the company guilty of antitrust violations went long on Monday morning, in part because Deputy Solicitor General Malcolm Stewart arguing for the government was allowed to go 16 minutes beyond his allotted 20-minute slot. (Sarah Weinman has called in this first report immediately after the hearing let out. She will be filing a full report here within the hour.) Also appearing today were lawyers were Simon & Schuster and Macmillan, advancing their argument that the court’s injunction on Apple unfairly imposes adverse effects on the publishers, […]
More Speakers, Last Day for Early Pricing for Digital Book World
We’re continuing to fill a few more great speakers for our January shows, with top executives Barbara Marcus at Penguin Random House Children’s and Jonathan Nowell at Nielsen joining the roster for Publishers Launch Kids on January 13, and a highly notable keynoter joining us on the main stage at Digital Book World on January 14 and January 15 whom we will be able to announce shortly. As we have mentioned before, the final “early pricing” option to what has become the trade’s biggest show on the future of publishing ends today. Use our link for Publishers Lunch readers for the […]