Walmart has launched the Walmart Book Club, which will feature five titles for adults annually–one for each season and one Pick of the Year. “Our team of book merchants will select titles based on reading trends, relevancy and industry market data–helping to identify exciting titles Walmart customers are sure to love,” the company said in a release. The books will have a Walmart Book Club sticker on the cover. The inaugural title is Ali Hazelwood‘s Love on the Brain, which publishes today.
Archives for August 2022
Case Closed: The Final Words, in Full
On Friday, publishing’s big trial came to end–even if an anticlimactic one. Further to our attempt at live transcription on Friday, attached here are the final arguments in full. In his closing, DOJ attorney John Read recognized the “passion” involved in writing and publishing books, but noted that this trial is about business and law. “This is about the largest publisher, Penguin Random House, cementing its position” at the top of the market, he said “which is per se illegal, and the defendants have failed to rebut that presumption.” PRH counsel Daniel Petrocelli continued to assert that the government’s $250,000 advance […]
Barnes & Noble Stocking Policy Sparks Controversy Online
Last week, multiple middle grade and young adult authors, agents, and booksellers posted on Twitter about Barnes & Noble’s stocking policies, causing alarm online. A number of authors were finding out for the first time that their new hardcover releases will not be stocked at the chain, including Kelly Yang, Kalynn Bayron and Newbery winner Meg Medina. PL reached out to Barnes & Noble and publishers for clarity. The chain has been telling publishers for some time that middle grade hardcovers, as well as to a certain extent YA and adult fiction hardcovers, are not selling through well, and new title […]
Bookselling: Rockefeller Center to Add McNally Jackson
Rockefeller Center developer Tishman Speyer announced that McNally Jackson will open a 7,000-square-foot bookstore at 1 Rockefeller Plaza, expect to open in winter 2022.
Obituary: Michael Malone
Novelist Michael Malone died on August 19 of pancreatic cancer. He was the author of 14 books including First Lady and he won an Edgar Award in 1997 for his short story “Red Clay.” He also won a daytime Emmy in 1994 for his writing on One Life to Live.
People 8/19
Andrew Stoddard join as vp, publisher of the Nelson Books imprint on September 7. He was previously editorial director for Waterbrook & Multnomah at Penguin Random House.