So it’s looking a lot more like the third day of BEA here in London as the hard-core continue their work (often with suitcases nearby for tonight’s getaway) and the rest have fallen away, lightening aisles and rights tables alike. Even many of the scouts aren’t crazed with appointments today, which should tell you something. But anecdotal reports continue to indicate that a smaller, less frenized show has still been a fine show for the basic renewing of relationships and presentation of books for translation and secondary sales, along with ancillary international business of all kinds. As always, actual deal […]
UK CEOs Consider Emerging eBook World
A packed London Book Fair panel today gathered today four UK-based big houses ceos: John Makinson from Penguin, Tim Hely-Hutchinson from Hachette UK; Gail Rebuck from Random House UK; and Victorian Barnsley from Harper UK; each expressing varying degrees of the requisite “enthusiasm” about digital opportunities current and future. True to form Hely-Hutchinson remains the most cautious member of this group: ebooks “will have a place in the market, but its not the end of the story.” (He sees ebooks as only 5 percent of the market in five years.) He warned that it would be “very foolish to be […]
Penguin International Deals Include Chinese eBook Partner
True to the international spirit of the London Book Fair, Penguin made multiple announcements at a press briefing this morning related to its far-flung English-language empire. Starting in May, they will issue the full range of digitized Penguin UK and Dorling Kindersley titles (now comprising over 2,000 books) as ebooks in China with Beijing-based partner Founder Apabi Group in the company’s proprietary format. Founder Apabi is save to have an estimated 80 percent share of the ebook market, with over 500,000 tiles from Chinese publishers. Approximately 80 percent of the market is in library sales, with consumers comprising the remainder, […]
Orange Prize Shortlist Announced
To fuel some rights sales, the shortlist was named this morning in London: Scottsboro, by Ellen FeldmanThe Wilderness, Samantha HarveyThe Invention of Everything Else, by Samantha HuntMolly Fox’s Birthday, Deirdre MaddenHome, by Marilynne RobinsonBurnt Shadows, Kamila Shamsie
Pulitzers to Kitteridge, Meacham and More
The Pulitzer Prizes for books included a repeat win for NBA winner Annette Gordon-Reed. Sales as tracked by Nielsen BookScan show relative parity among three of the four winners to date in the outlets tracked by the service. The fiction winner sold close to 12,000 copies in hardcover and almost 44,000 in paperback so far; The Hemingses of Monticello is up to just over 45,000 hardcovers after the NBA win; and Slavery by Another Name has sold approximately 22,000 hardcovers and 4,000 trade paperbacks. American Lion is in a completely different class, with registered sales of close to 360,000 copies, […]
WMA-Endeavor Merger "Imminet"
After many rumors and denials, the Hollywood Reporter says that the merger of William Morris and Endeavor is expected shortly, barring any “last-minute glitches”–though they imply the deal still requires approval from each agency’s board. They add: “Although details of the structure of the new entity have not been revealed, Endeavor’s Ari Emanuel is expected to assume day-to-day control of the merged entity as CEO, with WMA chief James Wiatt taking on an oversight title like chairman.” The magazine also expects “a wrenching period of assimilation” as the agencies merge staff.Hollywood Reporter