Swedish psychologist Carl-Johan Forssen Ehrlin’s crude-looking self-published picture book The Rabbit Who Wants To Fall Asleep: A New Way Of Getting Children To Sleep finds itself at the top of Amazon‘s bestseller list more than a year-and-a-half after publication. It seems to have caught on in the UK first, drawing media attention that spread to the US and has lifted sales here within the last week. (It’s currently No. 1 on Amazon’s hourly list and No. 30 at Barnes & Noble, but until recently was selling just low single digits per week according to Nielsen Bookscan.) Director of Books and Entertainment […]
Authors
Monday Briefs
The big weekend read was the NYT piece with allegations about Amazon‘s “purposeful Darwinism” towards its employees. Jeff Bezos sent an email to all employees — and thus the world — saying, “Even if it’s rare or isolated, our tolerance for any such lack of empathy needs to be zero.” Bezos agreed that “anyone working in a company that really is like the one described in the NYT would be crazy to stay. I know I would leave such a company.” But “Hopefully, you’re having fun working with a bunch of brilliant teammates, helping invent the future, and laughing along […]
Hamilton Parts Ways With Minotaur Weeks Before Publication Date
Edgar Award-winning author Steve Hamilton is parting ways with Minotaur Books, his publisher for more than seventeen years, less than two months before the scheduled September 29 release date of his next thriller, THE SECOND LIFE OF NICK MASON. After issuing a terse announcement to various trade publications and accounts saying “publication had been cancelled”, Minotaur spokesperson Tracey Guest added in an updated statement: “After many years of publishing Steve Hamilton, unfortunately SMP has had a parting of the ways and will not be moving forward with the publication of THE SECOND LIFE OF NICK MASON. We wish Steve all […]
For the Record: Clinton Got Over $8.5 Million for Latest Book
A few days ago Hillary Rodham Clinton released her tax returns for the years 2007 through 2014 (and when she had run for president in 2007, she had made public the Clintons’ tax returns for the years 2000 through 2006). The returns show that Clinton was paid over $8.5 million by Simon & Schuster for her 2014 book HARD CHOICES. She received $3 million after agreeing to the book deal in 2013, and reported another $5,563,867 from S&S in 2014 (figure the balance of the advance, and maybe some pass-through rights income). (Added later: Clinton’s 2015 tax return showed an […]
NEH Backs 36 Books By “Journalist-Historians”
The National Endowment for the Humanities has selected the first 36 recipients in their new Public Scholar program, which “supports well-researched books in the humanities conceived and written to reach a broad readership.” The initiative awards 6- and 12-month grants, paying writers $4,200 a month (resulting in grants worth $25,200 and $50,400). Among the recipients is Pulitzer winner Dianne McWhorter, for her long in-the-works book Moon of Alabama: The Space Race and Civil Rights in Post-WWII Huntsville. She tells the Washington Post, “How splendid that the NEH has decided to recognize hybrids like me — journalist-historians who combine the storytelling imperative of […]
People, Etc.
Wendy McCurdy will return to Kensington, as editorial director, starting August 3. She was previously an executive editor at Berkley and prior to that a senior editor at Bantam Dell after starting her career at Kensington’s Zebra Books. Philip Turner has returned to his roots as a bookseller, working at the new Rizzoli Bookstore in New York, which opens on July 27. He continues to operate his editorial service and publishing consultancy Philip Turner Book Productions as well. Mark Thomas has joined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt as senior vice president of engineering, based in New York, leading global software development and driving the effective delivery of HMH’s digital products. He reports to […]