Simon & Schuster announced Wednesday morning that John Bolton’s THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED: A White House Memoir sold “a total of more than 780,000” units in its first week on sale in the US. Note, however, that the total includes “orders from consumers that are as yet unfulfilled due to extraordinary demand,” which is unusual for a “sales” tabulation by industry practice. (Remember that the publisher told the court it had shipped approximately 200,000 copies to accounts in the US.) The publisher says it has an eleventh printing on the way that will bring the number of hardcovers in print to a million.
People
Kelly Van Sant has joined KT Literary as agent and contracts manager. She was previously at Red Sofa Literary. Chelsea Hensley and Jas Perry have both joined as associate agents, as part of the agency’s new mentorship program.
Awards
Matthew Dooley’s FLAKE is the first graphic novel to have won the UK’s Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize for comedic fiction.
Film/TV
Recently-formed International Literary Properties announced a first-look deal with BBC Studios.
Legal
Author Dan Brown’s ex-wife, Blythe Brown, has filed a lawsuit in New Hampshire alleging he had “secretly removed substantial funds from his and Blythe’s hard-earned marital assets to conduct sordid, extra-marital affairs with women — one half his age — and to pursue a clandestine life.”
She alleges that he misrepresented their assets in their recent divorce proceedings, and asks for a court-ordered audit. The suit also charges that the author concealed from her projects in process, including an NBC Universal theatrical series, a MasterClass series, a new children’s book, a music project and more.
Dan Brown said in a statement that the allegations were “written without regard for the truth.” “For reasons known only to her and possibly her lawyer,” he said, “Blythe Brown has created through this suit a fictional and vindictive account of aspects of our marriage designed to hurt and embarrass me.”