Congressman Charles Boustany of Lafayette, LA, currently running for the Senate, filed a defamation suit in a Lafayette District Court against Simon & Schuster and Ethan Brown, author of Murder In the Bayou. Published in mid-September and investigating the deaths of eight Louisiana women, the book cites multiple unidentified sources who suggest that Congressman Boustany was involved with prostitutes who were murdered (but does not accuse him of any involvement in the killings). Boustany’s campaign denied the allegations and denounced the book in early September, when a campaign spokesman said in a statement, “These allegations are completely false and don’t even deserve a response.” […]
Archives for October 2016
Amazon: KU Dispute In Japan, Revised Review Rules
A few big Japanese publishers are reporting that Amazon abruptly withdrew their titles from the Kindle Unlimited subscription program over the weekend. Though in the US and other major territories most big publishers resisted willingly participating in KU, in Japan the WSJ says that “as part of a deal to attract customers to the service” when it launched in August, “Amazon made contracts with Japanese publishers to pay them a premium through the end of this year when a customer read at least 10 percent of a book or other content.” A publisher told them the incentive worked too well and […]
People, Etc.
At Chronicle Books, Melissa Manlove and Naomi Kristen have both been promoted to senior editor, children’s. Scholarly publisher Emerald has hired Philippa Grand, PhD as editorial director, social science books and publisher, sociology, criminology & social policy. Pete Baker runs their scholarly and professional business, finance and economics books division, Jenny McCall has joined as a publisher, and Amy Potter is their new head of books marketing. Author of the National Book Award winner The Women of Brewster Place, Gloria Naylor, 66, died last Wednesday of heart failure. Awards In Canada, the shortlists were announced for the Governor General’s Literary Awards. The fiction list includes […]
October Bookseller Picks
Amazon‘s spotlight pick for October is Tana French’s The Trespasser, and their featured debut is Jade Chang’s The Wangs vs. the World — one of five PL Buzz Books on the list. The other four that you can preview now in our free ebook are: Truevine, by Beth Macy Today Will Be Different, by Maria Semple News of the World, by Paulette Jiles The Mothers, Brit Bennett The list also features: Messy, by Tim Harford Small Great Things, by Jodi Picoult American Ulysses, by Ronald C. White Another Day in the Death of America, by Gary Younge Barnes & Noble also […]
People, Etc.
Stephanie Hitchcock has been promoted to editor at Harper Business. At Henry Holt, Jessica Wiener has been appointed director of marketing. At Little, Brown, Katharine Myers has been promoted to associate director of publicity. In addition, Pamela Brown moves up to marketing director, Little, Brown and Mulholland Books, while Lauren Velasquez joins as marketing manager. Previously she was a marketing manager at the Crown Publishing Group. At Triada US, Brent Taylor has been promoted to subsidiary (audio and foreign) rights manager in addition to his role as associate agent. On Friday, the BISG presented their annual awards to Dominique Raccah at […]