Wednesday morning’s attack on the offices of French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, which left 12 dead, including four cartoonists and the economist and author Bernard Maris, took place on the French publication date of Michel Houellebecq‘s new novel SUBMISSION, already subject to controversy for its depiction of France under Islamic rule in 2022 (and featured on the cover of Charlie Hebdo’s most recent issue, also published Wednesday). An armed police guard is currently stationed at the headquarters of Houellebecq’s publisher Flammarion, while “a large sign said visitors must request permission by phone and get an escort before entering.” The company’s […]
Authors
Briefs
Following Macmillan ceo John Sargent’s indication that they will, with some reluctance, “test subscription in the coming weeks,” Oyster announced that their collection now includes over 1,000 titles published by Bloomsbury. Harper UK has disclosed their annual results for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014. Sales fell to £179 million, down £11 million from the prior year, while profits rebounded from terrible to just low, with pre-tax earnings of £7.2 million (still, much better than £2.8 million the year before). The company said profits were held down by £3.5 million related to their planned relocation to new offices in 2015. The Bookseller […]
Dunham’s Book to Clarify Alleged Rapist Is A Pseudonym
Lena Dunham’s debut book NOT THAT KIND OF GIRL continues to generate headlines on controversial topics. Random House announced it will alter future editions of the book to indicate that “Barry,” the name of a fellow Oberlin student alleged to have sexually assaulted Dunham, is a pseudonym. “We have put the change in process,” the publisher said in a statement. “The digital edition of Not That Kind of Girl will reflect that ‘Barry’ is a pseudonym. Future printings of the physical book will also have that change.” The problem arose when the conservative website Breitbart published an “investigative report” that […]
Bestselling Author H.M. Ward Says “KU Crushed My Sales,” and More Things Kindle
Amazon’s real-time experiment with the livelihoods they have provided to their exclusive self-published KDP authors through Kindle Unlimited (KU) continues to draw concern on online forums. The most recent scrutiny stems from a post by bestselling author Holly (H.M.) Ward on Kindle Boards from the Friday after Thanksgiving, which continues to draw follow-up remarks. Ward said that her Amazon income dropped substantially when she participated in Kindle Unlimited: “[I] had my serials in it for 60 days and lost approx 75% of my income [from KDP]. Thats counting borrows and bonuses. My sales dropped like a stone. The number of borrows was […]
Authors In the News: Bookselling Authors, Picoult, MacArthur Fellow McHugh, and More
The American Booksellers Association says that over 400 independent bookstores will host authors who have volunteered to work alongside booksellers as part of the Indies First initiative this Saturday — which is the American Express-promoted Small Business Saturday. The ABA reports that more than 1,200 authors have enrolled in the various year-round initiatives that are part of the larger Indies First banner. They have a state-by-state listing of scheduled author appearances and other in-store promotions here. Jodi Picoult visits the UK and gives the Telegraph a candid interview she probably wouldn’t give to an American newspaper, which in turn gets pitched to a […]
People, Etc.
Shawna Mullen will join Abrams as associate publisher, adult trade on December 15, reporting to Michael Sand. Previously she was executive editor at Taunton Press and before then, editorial director at Clarkson Potter, where she helped launch the Potter Craft imprint. PEN announced a new PEN/Fusion Emerging Writers Prize to support an unpublished manuscript that “addresses a global and/or multicultural issue,” from a writer under the age of 35. As of January 1 eBook Architects will close their Austin, TX office. The core staff, including the unit’s lead Joshua Tallent, will continue their work with Firebrand (and their FlightDeck EPUB testing and validation tool) and […]