A little more than two months before HarperCollins was due to publish Billy Joel‘s memoir The Book of Joel, with a finished cover unveiled and a manuscript draft turned in, the book deal is off. “It took working on writing a book to make me realize that I’m not all that interested in talking about the past, and that the best expression of my life and its ups and downs has been and remains my music,” he said in a statement. Spokeswoman Tina Andreadis said that Joel’s memoir “was well into the editing process, but that Joel had not approved […]
Authors
People
Associate Publisher of Knopf Canada Michael Schellenberg has decided to leave the company to consider new paths for his future career. ” I am proud to have had the opportunity to work with him and see his creative talent and commitment to authors, as well as his passion for books, both literary and commercial,” said Random House Canada EVP Louise Dennys in a statement. Schellenberg joined Knopf Canada as a senior editor in 2003. Randy Ladenheim-Gil has left Alpha Books, where she was executive editor, in the wake of the company’s consolidation of the imprint’s editorial staff in its Indiana […]
Briefs: Controversy over The Pale King On-Sale Date; Details on Stephenie Meyer’s Next Novel; and More
Little, Brown made much hay of publishing David Foster Wallace‘s unfinished novel The Pale King on April 15, since that day is tax day (except this year it’s not, thanks to a tardy Congress) and the book features the day-to-day thoughts and deeds of IRS agents. But the book’s actual on-sale date was March 22, which is how Amazon, BN.com and other online retailers started shipping copies to customers – even though most independent bookstores weren’t selling the book yet or hadn’t even received copies, believing or having been told the book was embargoed. “I don’t really understand the confusion,” […]
Finalist Le Carre Withdraws Name From Consideration of Man Booker International Prize
Philip Roth, Marilynne Robinson, Anne Tyler, and Philip Pullman are 13 authors shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize, announced yesterday evening. John Le Carre, who was also shortlisted for the prize, immediately asked for his name to be withdrawn from consideration. “I am enormously flattered to be named as a finalist of 2011 Man Booker International Prize,” he said in a statement. “However I do not compete for literary prizes and have therefore asked for my name to be withdrawn.” Prize chair Rick Gekoski said Le Carre’s name would remain on the list, adding that the prize committee “are disappointed that […]
People, Etc.
David Saracco has joined codeMantra as director of strategic accounts and business Development. Previously he was VP ePublishing and business development for Impelsys. Shaun Tan has won the Astrid Lindgren Prize, the largest children’s literature award. The Australian Crime novelist and critic HRF Keating, best known for his Inspector Ghote novels, died Sunday at the age of 84. Telegraph Obit Book Expo America announced the convention will have an increased digital presence on the show floor thanks to the IDPF-sponsored Digital Zone, which will feature 17 booths and 16 kioks over approximately 5000 square feet. The IDPF’s two day conference […]
Catherine Cookson Estate To Sell Digital Books Direct, and Other eNews
Add the estate of Catherine Cookson to the growing number of authors selling digital backlist titles directly (and, in this instance, exclusively through Amazon in the US and UK.) The author’s literary representatives at Sheil Land formed a separate company, Peach Tree Publishing, which will sell 91 Cookson titles as ebooks priced between $1.50 and $5.99. Cookson’s agent Sonia Land engages in some mutual controversy-starting with the Daily Mail by saying she never informed Cookson’s print publishers Transworld or Simon & Schuster of the ebook plan: I haven’t told either firm about the deal and I am sure they are going […]