Authors Brian McGreevy, Lee Shipman and Philipp Meyer production company El Jefe formed earlier this year — has landed a first-look development deal with Slingshot Media, which is backed by private equity firm TPG. The three are friends from the Michener Center at the University of Texas at Austin and their company “aims to develop TV projects with the goal of helping novelists make the transition to writing for TV.” They have optioned Meyer’s American Rust, and Wil S. Hylton’s Vanished. McGreevy’s book Hemlock Grove was already adapted for Netflix by McGreevy and Shipman, and the trio is also adapting […]
Authors
Briefs: September Costco Pick; Amis Breaks with German, French Publishers; Maze Runner Movie
The September Pennie’s Pick at Costco is The Monogram Murders: The New Hercule Poirot Mystery, by Sophie Hannah. The Guardian reported that two of Martin Amis‘s longstanding international publishers — Hanser in Germany, and Gallimard in France — declined to publish his newest novel, The Zone of Interest, set in a fictionalized Auschwitz. Another German publisher has not been secured yet, but Calmann-Levy will publish the book in France in 2015. Editor Deborah Kaufmann says she is “delighted to be starting a long relationship with Martin Amis.” The Guardian notes, “He said that it was his understanding that Gallimard’s rejection was due to […]
People, Awards, Etc.
Indiana University Press has appointed Gary Dunham as director. Previously he was director of publications for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Louise Erdrich has won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize‘s distinguished achievement award. She will receive the award at a ceremony in Dayton, OH on November 9. The Hugo Awards were presented at the World Science Fiction Convention. Among the winners, the honoree for best novel was Ann Leckie‘s ANCILLARY JUSTICE (Orbit).
People, Etc.
Julie MacKay has joined Scribd as manager, content acquisition, working out of the company’s New York office. Previously she worked as a foreign rights manager for Janklow & Nesbit. In addition, Greg Freed has been named content operations specialist, working from Scribd’s San Francisco office. Previously he was director of production and distribution at RosettaBooks. On Tuesday NY Times Public Editor Margaret Sullivan sharply criticized the paper’s reporting earlier this month on a plagiarism claim against Rick Perlstein‘s THE INVISIBLE BRIDGE. After fielding letters from those including Jeffrey Toobin, who characterized Perlstein’s chief accuser, Craig Shirley as “a right-leaning writer […]
People, PEN Awards, Etc.
Marcie Lawrence has joined Little, Brown Books for Young Readers as designer. She is a recent graduate from the School of Visual Arts MFA Design program, and was previously at Wenner Media. In addition, Maggie Edkins has been promoted to assistant designer. Susan Peterson has joined CodeManta as svp, sales. Most recently she was president of Blackwell Book Services, North America, prior to which she was svp of digital business at Baker & Taylor. Author, journalist, and NYC correspondent for National Public Radio Margot Adler died in New York City on July 28. DRAWING DOWN THE MOON was her well-known work […]
Authors and Kindle Unlimited
Authors understandably have questions about Amazon’s not-yet-officially-released Kindle Unlimited subscription service. To expand more explicitly on what we wrote in our first post on Wednesday morning: For Authors/Publishers Participating By Direct Agreement These credits/payments will work in a manner similar to other ebook subscription terms, we are told. Any time a reader goes beyond an agreed upon threshold of a particular book — 10 percent to 20 percent is the range that we have heard — it is then treated as a full “sale” and the publisher is paid the normal wholesale price of the ebook (and will report that […]