Natasha Trethewey has been named the newest Poet Laureate by the US Library of Congress. NYT Philip Roth has won Spain’s Asturias Prize, given to an author “whose literary work represents a significant contribution to universal literature.” The Overlook Press will publish The Russian Library, an “ambitious one hundred and twenty five volume series of translated Russian fiction, drama, and poetry”, over the next ten years, the publisher announced Wednesday at BEA. Overlook is working with (and is sponsored by) Read Russia on the project, which will feature classic and contemporary Russian works and launch in Fall 2013 with five […]
Burkle Divests BN Stock as Promised, Reducing Stake to Just 0.9 Percent
In a filing with the SEC Tuesday evening Ron Burkle revealed that his Yucaipa Cos. funds, Yucaipa American Alliance II and Yucaipa American Alliance Parallel Funds, had divested themselves of the bulk of the nearly 20 percent stake in Barnes & Noble on May 31. Yucaipa said it had distributed more than 11.9 million shares “in kind” on a pro rata basis to unnamed investors. When Yucaipa explained the original filing in mid-May, they insisted that the move was a reallocation among Burkle’s complicated interests, “distributing shares to some of its affiliates,” and not a move to sell or divest their stake. […]
Kobo Formally Announces Self-Publishing Portal “Writing Life”
As promised over the past six months or so, Kobo has finally entered the self-publishing realm with Writing Life, which the company formally announced Tuesday morning. As with similar direct-publishing programs offered by other ebookstore platforms, Writing Life will be free to use, and Kobo claims the service will offer “10 percent higher royalties on sales in many growing international markets and allows authors much more freedom on pricing.” They also will allow authors to give their ebooks away for free “at any time without restrictive exclusive agreements,” and they make clear on their site that they do not seek […]
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Gretchen Young will join Grand Central Publishing on June 25 as vp, executive editor, reporting to Deb Futter. Young has spent the past fifteen years at Hyperion, most recently as vp, executive editor. “I am thrilled that Gretchen Young is joining our team,” Futter said in a statement. ” The range of books she has acquired is most impressive in both breadth and depth and I know her editorial instincts will be showcased at Grand Central.” New Yorker fiction editor Deborah Treisman has won the Center for Fiction’s 2012 Maxwell E. Perkins Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Field of […]
Oprah Revives Book Club “2.0” With Cheryl Strayed Memoir WILD
Late Friday afternoon Oprah announced via a video message obtained by the NYT that after a two-year hiatus — corresponding to when she left broadcast television and started her own network, OWN — she would bring back her book club, now called Oprah’s Book Club 2.0. The first selection in the revived club, which will feature “several selections” through the end of 2012, is Cheryl Strayed’s memoir WILD. “I love this book,” Winfrey wrote in the July issue of O, The Oprah Magazine. “I want to shout it from the mountaintop. I want to shout it from the Web. In […]
IDPF Executive Panel Focuses on “Serving The Author,” Not Necessarily Selling Direct
Once the inevitable if obligatory reminder from IDPF organizers Monday at their annual conference that there would be no talk of anything related to agency pricing or the Department of Justice investigation was dispensed with, Bloomsbury ceo Richard Charkin, Open Road ceo Jane Friedman, and Random House president of sales and digital operations Madeline McIntosh engaged in a spirited discussion of how a publisher sells direct, their attitudes on DRM, and other digital publishing matters. In terms of how important is it for publishers to nurture direct relationships with readers on a going-forward basis, McIntosh said that at Random House, […]