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 […]
Authors
Briefs: Dorchester Woes Continue; The Brand of Mary Higgins Clark; Penguin Piracy Suit; And More
Dorchester Publishing continues to do its best zombie impression, as a number of authors have learned the ailing company continues to sell digital copies of their work even after they no longer hold the rights, and despite repeated assurances they would stop this practice. Horror writer Brian Keene detailed the situation on his blog, saying that he found unauthorized e-copies of his books under the Dorchester banner selling through various digital outlets. “In the most recent case (iBooks), Dorchester blamed their vendor, Libre Digital, but provided no documentation verifying this. An employee at Apple cast doubt on this explanation. In the […]
St. Martin’s Pays a Reported $2M For Four Books By Amanda Hocking, Self-Publishing’s Reluctant Heroine
This year every week in publishing could be considered eventful, but this week in particular had a special kind of symmetry, as the very publishing house Barry Eisler walked away from to publish on his own brought Amanda Hocking into the fold. Despite sources indicating otherwise a few days ago, St. Martin’s emerged the victor of the auction for Hocking’s new Watersong YA paranormal series, reportedly paying more than $2 million for World English rights (which, of course, includes digital rights, too.) “I’ve done as much with self-publishing as any person can do,” Hocking told the NYT Thursday. “People have […]
People, Etc.
Abrams will launch Appleseed Books, a new imprint geared towards babies, toddlers, and preschoolers, in Spring 2012. The imprint will publish 8-10 titles annually, mixing board books, novelty books, and young picture books as originals, reprints or branded series. The winners of the Bancroft Prize for History are Eric Foner‘s The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery; Sara Dubow‘s Ourselves Unborn and Christopher Tomlins‘ Freedom Bound. Each author will receive $10,000. Managing a Dental Practice: The Genghis Khan Way by Michael R. Young won the Diagram Prize for the year’s oddest book title. BookNet Canada will launch its interactive […]
People, Etc.
Chronicle Books has appointed Ginee Seo as director of children’s publishing, effective May 12. Previously she was VP and editorial director of Atheneum, where she had her own imprint. Mindy Im has joined the Book Industry Study Group as its marketing director, a newly created position, responsible for membership outreach, media relations, and overall organization branding, as well as general project management across a wide scope of BISG activities. Previously she was Associate Director of Marketing at Hachette Book Group. At Ruckus Media, Jason Root has been named Chief Content Officer and Jeff Zakim joins the company as its marketing […]
As the Publishing World Turns: Amanda Hocking Close to Seven-Figure Book Deal
On the same day Barry Eisler turned down half a million dollars from Minotaur Books to self-publish, news emerged publicly that Amanda Hocking appears to be doing the exact opposite. Yesterday afternoon the NYT finally caught wind of what many in the industry have known about for weeks now, which is that agent Steve Axelrod is shopping a new four-book series to publishers, attracting bids “of well over $1 million for world English rights,” according to two unnamed publishing executives who spoke with the paper, and that the auction may be complete by today. Sources in turn tell us that Penguin […]