Several news reports in advance of Wednesday’s full Nielsen Bookscan count, offer premature judgments about the opening sales figures for Hillary Clinton’s HARD CHOICES. BuzzFeed reports, based on the Barnes & Noble sales feed managed by Bookscan, that the book topped Barnes & Noble’s bestseller list with “just over 24,000 hardcover copies sold” in its first week on sale, 319 copies ahead of Diana Gabaldon’s novel WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART’S BLOOD. From that data point the piece concludes “the numbers do indicate that Hard Choices has not performed as well in its first week as Clinton’s first memoir, LIVING HISTORY, did […]
Appeals Court Upholds Ruling That Pre-1923 Sherlock Holmes Stories Are in Public Domain
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2013 lower court ruling holding that 46 Sherlock Holmes stories and four novels created by Arthur Conan Doyle before 1923, along with the signature characters in those books such as Holmes and Dr. Watson, are in the public domain. The original suit by Leslie Klinger sought clarification after the Conan Doyle Estate demanded (and received) $5000 in licensing fees for an anthology of new fiction featuring Sherlock Holmes published by Random House, then demanded additional fees for a follow-up anthology slated for publication by Pegasus. Klinger won that suit last December, after which […]
Apple Settles with States & Consumers In Sealed Agreement
Apple has agreed to settle with the plaintiff states and consumer class in an agreement filed under seal with Judge Denise Cote late Monday. The amount they will pay has not been disclosed yet, and the tendering of those payments is dependent upon the outcome of Apple’s appeal of the verdict against them — so it would be some time before any of those monies are dispersed. Those terms are likely to be revealed in a second filing, by mid-July. In a letter from Steve Berman of Hagens Berman, on behalf of the plaintiff parties, he writes that all sides […]
People, Etc.
Lisa Barnes has moved over to the Random House Speakers Bureau as assistant agent director. Previously she was assistant director of publicity at Ballantine Bantam Dell. Julie MacKay has joined The Robbins Office as foreign rights manager. Previously she worked in the foreign rights department at Janklow & Nesbit. Julianne Lewis has joined February Media as publicist. Previously she worked in marketing and publicity for the South Carolina Book Festival. Hilary Mantel was named a Dame of the British Empire as part of the Queen’s Birthday Honors. KF Literary Scouting is now scouting for V&R Editoras in Brazil and Latin […]
Grand Central Absorbs Business Plus, Wolff Exits
Grand Central confirmed publicly on Thursday that one of the three veteran editors laid off last week as part of Hachette Book Group’s restructuring was Rick Wolff, publisher and editor-in-chief of their Business Plus imprint, which he founded in 2000. The imprint will be discontinued, the company announced, with all titles scheduled to be published from fall 2014 onward integrated back into GCP’s main list. “The strong tradition of business book publishing will continue at GCP,” the company said. As it turns out (after we asked), the companion line Business Plus UK was already absorbed previously into Headline’s main list. Grand Central president and publisher […]
Imprints: Voyager Expands Impulse Digital Program; Harper Canada Launches Harper Avenue; and More
HarperCollins’ science fiction & fantasy imprint Voyager is expanding its digital-first Impulse program with 31 new titles set for publication between July 2014 through Winter 2015. These digital-first publications, the “vast majority” of which were acquired from an open global submissions call in 2012, will be followed by short-run paperback editions.”Voyager Impulse gives us the opportunity to expand our frontlist in new directions and offer a more diverse selection of imaginative fiction to readers,” said svp, executive editor and director of editorial development at Morrow and Voyager Jennifer Brehl in the announcement. “I for one am energized by the vast […]