John Bolton, Simon & Schuster and Javelin Literary, in a group message, “categorically state that there was absolutely no coordination with the New York Times or anyone else regarding the appearance of information about his book, THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED, at online booksellers. Any assertion to the contrary is unfounded speculation.” That denial still doesn’t really explain what happened and how S&S came to release metadata to online booksellers Sunday and start taking pre-orders — but the publisher still declines to say anything more. Meanwhile, in a second story filed by the NYT Monday night, reporters Michael Schmidt and […]
Archives for January 2020
Flatiron Cancels Two American Dirt Events, As Oprah Promises “A Deeper and More Substantive Conversation” In March
Objections to Jeanine Cummins’ novel AMERICAN DIRT continue to reverberate as the author is in the midst of an extensive national tour. Publisher Flatiron Books cancelled her scheduled Monday night appearance at Warwick’s in La Jolla, CA, which had been listed as “full,” and Tuesday night’s event to be held by Vroman’s. Warwick’s indicated the publisher’s decision was “due to safety concerns.” Events at two other California booksellers are still on the schedule for later this week. Separately, Sunday’s offsite event in conjunction with Left Bank Books in St. Louis, MO was cancelled by the store, following “posts on social […]
John Bolton’s Book Leaks — And Is Listed for March 17 Publication
On Sunday the NYT ran a story based on “drafts of a manuscript” by former National Security Advisor John Bolton. Within hours of that story going live, Amazon posted a pre-order listing for the book — which had not been officially announced or even confirmed by any of the parties — offering the 528-page THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED, scheduled for March 17 publication. They showed the cover and a brief description from publisher Simon & Schuster, so clearly their listing was based on official metadata, but the publisher declined to answer our questions about how that data was approved […]
People, Etc.
Zachary Wagman will join Flatiron Books as vp, editorial director on February 10. He is currently executive editor at Ecco. Dena Rayess has been promoted to assistant editor at Chronicle Books. Roseanne Wells has been promoted to agent at the Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency. Kaitlyn Johnson joined Belcastro Agency. She was previously with Corvisiero Literary Agency. Last week, Terence Campo joined Little Bee Books as production manager (he was at Sterling), as did Elizabeth Peskin (who was at Random House Children’s). In the UK, Paul Martinovic has been appointed promoted to associate editor at Picador. He will focus on backlist […]
Newbery to Craft, Caldecott to Nelson, and More
The American Library Association presented their annual book awards at their mid-winter meeting in Philadelphia. On Monday morning, at the Youth Media Awards, the Newbery medal went to New Kid by Jerry Craft (Harper Alley) — who also won the Coretta Scott King Author Award — and the Caldecott medal to The Undefeated, illustrated by Kadir Nelson and written by Kwame Alexander (Versify). Dig by A.S. King (Dutton Children’s) won the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in young adult literature. The William C. Morris debut award went to The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe (Balzer […]
John Bolton’s Manuscript Is Leaked, to Underscore Any Testimony Would Support Impeachment Case
Portions of the book manuscript from $2 million patriot John Bolton have been leaked. “Associates” of his indicate to the NYT that “he believes he has relevant information, and he has also expressed concern that if his account of the Ukraine affair emerges only after the trial, he will be accused of holding back to increase his book sales. So problem solved. Despite the the expression of his “associates,” Bolton’s actual spokesperson told Politico, “The Ambassador sent the draft manuscript to the White House for pre-publication review by the NSC several weeks ago. The Ambassador has not circulated the draft […]