EU nations continue to wrestle with disparities in sales tax on print and ebooks, and a general need to raise public revenues. On January 1, France will officially defy EU law and lower the VAT on ebooks to match the tax on printed books. That rate has been 5.5 percent–but is scheduled to rise to 7 percent in the new year, which is causing uproar from France’s network of over 3,000 independent bookstores. (VAT on most goods in 19.6 percent.) France24 In the UK, however, the House of Commons was told that under EU law the country cannot reduce or […]
US World Book Night Line-Up Announced
World Book Night US has announced the 30 titles they will distribute for free on April 23. Anna Quindlen has been named honorary national chairperson. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson (Speak) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (Ballantine) Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger (Da Capo) Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (Beacon Press) Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (Tor) Little Bee by Chris Cleave (Simon & Schuster) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic) Blood Work by Michael […]
People, Etc.
Author Russell Hoban, 86, died on Tuesday. His most recent book, ANGELICA LOST AND FOUND, was published by Bloomsbury in November 2010. Editor David Lloyd, who was with Hoban recently, posted a short note. “We took it in turns to read to him at the end…. The world will sound so different without him.” Guardian Posted note Publisher of Waldman House Press Ned Waldman, 78, died Tuesday at a care center near his home in Wisconsin. Waldman and cousin Norton Stillman “were known nationally as owners of Minneapolis-based The Bookmen, the Midwest’s biggest book distributor” (no longer in business). He […]
Benaron’s Running the Rift Tops the January 2012 Indie Next List
We take a short break from the Best of the Year lists to jump to January, with the new Indie Next List. Naomi Benaron’s novel is the fourth Algonquin book in a year to claim the booksellers’ monthly No. 1 slot–preceded by Hillary Jordan’s When She Woke (October); Tayari Jones’ Silver Sparrow (June); and Jonathan Evison’s West of Here (February). Running the Rift: A Novel, by Naomi Benaron The Orphan Master’s Son: A Novel, by Adam Johnson American Dervish: A Novel, by Ayad Akhtar The Invisible Ones: A Novel, by Stef Penney The Journal of Best Practices: A Memoir of […]
Author News: Stockett, Ailes, Mina
Author of The Help Kathryn Stockett reports to CBS’s The Early Show on her new novel-in-progress. Originally due at the beginning of 2011, Stockett says “It’s not ready! But I’m working on it.” The new book “takes place during the Roaring ’20s in Oxford, Mississippi. … It’s about a group of women who have absolutely no marketable skills. We, as women of the 2000s, we go to college and prepare ourselves for the world. But these women did not, and the men fall away, so they have to find a different way to earn a living.” CBS Fox News head […]
People, Etc.
Consultant Dan Lubart, whose publishing-focused work has included regular analysis of Amazon Kindle price data, is joining HarperCollins in the new position of svp of sales analytics. (Harper has been a client of his firm Iobyte.) He will “develop, build and implement dynamic pricing strategies” for their books and “help ensure that [they] are priced at an optimal level for both authors and consumers.” Lubart will report to Josh Marwell. Vanessa Mobley is being promoted to executive editor at Crown, reporting to Molly Stern. At Public Affairs, Tessa Shanks has been promoted to assistant director of publicity. Mary Anne Thompson […]