Simon & Schuster has entered into a new distribution and publishing agreement with Yilin Press in China that will expand the availability of electronic editions of works in Mandarin for readers worldwide, while also making works by notable Chinese authors available to English-language audiences. The digital distribution project will launch in November with 300 titles, including Mandarin translations of Yann Martel’s THE LIFE OF PI, THE CORRECTIONS by Jonathan Franzen, UNDERWORLD by Don DeLillo and THE GOLDEN NOTEBOOK by Doris Lessing. In addition, the S&S trade imprint has acquired world English rights to a number of fiction and nonfiction titles […]
People, Etc.
Another set of Douglas & McIntrye alums — former publisher Trena White and former coo Jesse Finkelstein — have started a new company. Their Page Two Strategies is “a full-service publishing agency” that “will help non-fiction authors navigate their full range of publishing options, including self-publishing, and also provide consulting services to companies looking to develop or expand their own publishing strategies.” Page Two also has an alliance with the Translatlantic Agency, in which White and Finkelstein will represent some nonfiction in a traditional fashion, as associate agents. At Scribner, Kate Lloyd has been promoted to associate director of publicity. […]
Legal: Cussler Sues Producer Over Rights Claim; Supreme Court Will Hear Raging Bull Author Suit
Clive Cussler spent years engaging in a costly, complicated lawsuit with Philip Anschutz over script approval on the film flop Sahara, based on one of Cussler’s Dirk Pitt novels, which ended in a stalemate. (Both sides claimed victory but neither prevailed in winning attorney fees.) Now, Deadline reports, Cussler has filed a fresh complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court claiming that a man named John Fassett, who “represents himself as a motion picture and film producer,” has been representing that he controls the rights to Cussler’s Oregon Files series of adventure novels. The suit asserts that Fassett was “using names […]
People: S&S Editor Among Those Injured In Riverside Attack
Simon & Schuster senior editor Ben Loehnen was among those injured in Tuesday morning’s random slashings in Riverside Park. Loehnen was stabbed in the stomach while walking his dogs. The NYT says “at first [he] thought he had been punched in the gut, but then saw the blood and realized he had been stabbed.” (The attacker was said to wield part of a pair of scissors). We were told informally by others that Loehnen was recovering following surgery, and in an updated version the NYT confirmed he was “doing well.” Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said that none of the victims faced life-threatening injuries. The attacker […]
Bookselling: Tattered Cover Keeps Downtown Lease, Loses One Floor; Chapitre Bookstores for Sale in France; and More
Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver, Colorado will stay put in its current downtown location (one of three stores, which the bookstore has rented since 1994) but with a catch: it must consolidate two floors into one. Owner Joyce Meskis told the Denver Business Journal that “in January, we will start the demolition of the [store’s] grand staircase with the goal of being resettled in our reconfigured first-floor space by mid-March.” Meskis did not disclose terms of the new rental deal, but added the one-floor store will have “approximately the same number of books,” with “much more tightly packed” shelves, but […]
People
Candlewick editor-at-large Joan Powers has been promoted to group editorial director for the company’s new licensed publishing divisions Candlewick Entertainment and for Walker Entertainment, both of which will launch its first lists in spring 2014. Powers will report to Helen McAleer and will continue to edit select authors for Candlewick. In addition, Kristen Nobles has been promoted group art director for both divisions, reporting to Powers. Clelia Gore will join Martin Literary Management on October 1, where she will oversee the agency’s new children’s division. Mike Conlon has rejoined Red Wheel Weiser Books as production manager, in the company’s Newburyport, […]