Earlier this month, author Jeffrey Archer filed suit in London’s High Court against his former literary agency, Curtis Brown UK, claiming they owe him £538,486 in alleged underpayments since they began representing him in 2002, plus interest on those funds of over £250,000. Archer also seeks damages for breach of duty, and a formal declaration that his representation by Curtis Brown UK ended last March. The Evening Standard ran the first report on the case six days ago. Archer’s attorney James Ramsden QC tells the court the issue was first discovered during a 2018 audit by Mitchell Rights Management. He […]
The Missing Piece: Three Days Before Bolton Leak, White House Said the Manuscript Contained Top Secret Information
On January 23, three days before the NYT reported on stories said to appear in John Bolton’s book manuscript (and three days before Simon & Schuster’s metadata describing the book, showing the jacket and offering it for pre-order started appearing online), the National Security Council wrote to Bolton’s attorney that they had problems with the manuscript. Senior director for records, access and information security management Ellen Knight wrote to attorney Charles Cooper, as reported by Insider, “The manuscript appears to contain significant amounts of classified information. It also appears that some of this classified information is at the TOP SECRET […]
Quarto Turned Down A £20 Million Cash Buyout Offer
Debt-ridden Quarto Publishing turned down a buyout offer from US investor and former hedge fund executive Richard Hurowitz multiple times last year, rejecting his proposals in early October and again in mid-November, the FT reported. Hurowitz offered 100 pence a share, or approximately £20.5 million, and was advised by investment bank Greenhill. Though desperate for funds, Quarto rejected his offer without notifying their public investors. Hurowitz’s offer was — and remains — well above Quarto’s stock price, since the market doubts whether the company is viable. Quarto has roughly $54 million due in bank debt and another $13 million short-term […]
Next Week’s Bestellers
We told you last week in our first experimental post that BookStat.com showed online pre-orders for AMERICAN DIRT of 9,190 hardcovers; 10,436 ebooks; and 3,088 audiobooks. From publication day through Saturday June 25, to align with bestseller lists, BookStat shows online sales of another 8,913 copies, ebook sales of 10,971 units, and digital audio sales of 13,623. Since Bookstat is monitoring online print sales for Amazon only, that suggests the full print sale will register at somewhere between two and three times what they monitor — so, with pre-orders included since that’s how bestseller lists work in opening week, a […]
Author and Publisher Say There Was “No Coordination” In Releasing Bolton Book Info Online Sunday
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 […]
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 […]