Three weeks after settling a long-running lawsuit in the state of New York over fraud, violation of consumer protection acts, and unjust enrichment, Author Solutions has now settled similar outstanding legal actions in Indiana, effectively bringing the entire case to a close. Judge Denise Cote had denied class certification to the plaintiffs in the New York case, but the plaintiffs were still hoping to obtain class certification in Indiana (where ASI is based). ASI issued a statement Tuesday saying the New York and Indiana suits were resolved “without any finding or admission of wrongdoing on the part of Author Solutions or its affiliates. […]
Archives for September 2015
Yanigihara, James, Tyler Among Booker Prize Finalists; National Book Award Poetry Longlist
The shortlist for the Booker Prize was announced Wednesday morning. Two novels by American writers — A LITTLE LIFE (Doubleday/Picador UK) by Hanya Yanagihara, and A SPOON OF BLUE THREAD by Anne Tyler (Knopf/Chatto & Windus) — were included, as were A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James (Riverhead/Oneworld), Satin Island by Tom McCarthy (Knopf/Jonathan Cape), The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma (Little, Brown/One), and The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota (Knopf 2016/Picador UK). McCarthy is the only nominee who appeared previously on a Booker Prize shortlist (for C), while Obioma is tied with 2013 winner Eleanor Catton […]
NBA Longlist for Young People’s Literature
The National Book Foundation began their week of longlists with the young people’s literature candidates on Monday morning. Actual finalists in all four categories will be named at once on October 14. But it’s already clear that there will be no candidates from the children’s divisions of Penguin Random House, which did not garner a single longlist spot — while HarperCollins’ imprints have five titles in contention: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli (Balzer + Bray) Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad by M.T. Anderson (Candlewick Press) The Thing […]
Save the Date: Apple Has Until September 28 to Seek Supreme Court Appeal
When the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Apple’s guilty verdict in the ebook antitrust case in a 2-1 decision on June 30, that set in motion a 90-day “countdown clock” to file a cert. petition for consideration by the Supreme Court (formally called a petition for a writ of certiorari). That means Apple’s deadline to file is September 28, confirmed to us by multiple interested parties. The company can also ask for an extension of the time to file up until 10 days prior to the deadline (with the request to be fielded by the Justice with responsibility for the Second Circuit, […]
People
Michael Ballanco has been hired as Hachette Book Group’s as svp, chief information officer, starting September 28, filling the position vacated by Ralph Munsen. Ballanco was CIO at the Warner Music Group and prior to that at EMI Music. Caitlin McDonald has joined the Donald Maass Literary Agency. She was formerly an associate agent at Sterling Lord Literistic. At Grove Atlantic, Peter Blackstock has been promoted to senior editor. In addition, John Mark Boling moves up to senior publicity manager, Justina Batchelor has been promoted to publicity manager, and Becca Putman has been promoted to sales and marketing associate and academic marketing manager. […]
Pearson’s Fallon Will Wait on Selling Penguin Random House Stake
With Pearson able to ask Bertelsmann to buy out their minority 47 percent share of Penguin Random House as early as this October, the education company’s John Fallon told Bloomberg TV, “It’s most unlikely that we’ll exercise the option at this time.” He noted, “The business is doing well, and we are one year away from achieving peak synergies.” Perhaps more relevantly, Pearson has abundant cash coming in this year from the sale of the Financial Times and their half of the Economist, so it’s reasonable that the company would wait a bit to cash in their PRH holding. Without […]