Last week Forbes uncovered two previously unreported lawsuits in US tax court which saw thriller writer Karin Slaughter square off against the Internal Revenue Service. While the suits themselves are interesting on their own, they are particularly relevant for authors with respect to the classification of book royalties as self-employment income, something the IRS has held for more than six decades. The first suit, which Slaughter settled with the IRS in July, covered the 2008 tax year, for which the IRS “had been demanding $146,155 in tax and a $29,231 penalty on top of the $1.14 million [Slaughter] originally paid.” […]
Authors
People
Ruth Homberg has joined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s as senior marketing manager. Previously she was digital marketing manager at Egmont UK. In addition, Hayley Gonnason has been named senior publicist, starting September 22. She is currently a publicist at S&S Children’s. Both will work in HMH’s New York office. At HarperCollins, Austin Tripp has been named national account manager, Amazon, succeeding Diane Jackson, who will retire on October 1 after 24 years with the company. In addition, Christy Johnson joins as national account manager, Amazon. Previously she was sales/marketing/inventory manager at the New Press. Forbes has released their annual list of […]
Novelists’ Production Company Gets Backing
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 […]
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 […]