Amazon is making yet another pass at short-form digital prose after years of failing to establish a market of scale, this time by announcing an imprint of Amazon Publishing called Amazon Original Stories. They will publish short works of fiction and nonfiction that can be read in a single sitting, available for purchase in the Kindle Singles store for $1.99 and free for Prime members. The first two titles, The Sign of the Beast by Joyce Carol Oates and Crown Heights by Colin Warner and Carl King, are already available, with work on deck from W. Kamau Bell, Jade Chang, Eddie Huang, Dean Koontz, and more. […]
Bookstores
Briefs: NYT Lists, Pearson’s Deal for Wall Street English, Waterstones Announces New Stores
People Eva Scalzo has joined Speilburg Literary Agency, representing romance and young adult fiction. Best Of Last Wednesday the NYTBR posted their list of 100 notable books for 2017. That means their top 10 list is due later this week. Former NYT book critic Michiko Kakutani doesn’t have a vote this year, but last week she indicated in a Tweet that three of her “favorite novels” from the year are Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, Exit West by Mohsin Hamid, and Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo. Corporate As expected, Pearson has reached a deal to sell their Wall Street English […]
Briefs: Bookselling, Harassment, And More
Bookselling Although the site that houses the Curious George Store in Harvard Square is being redeveloped into an indoor mall, the new owner of the site has reached an agreement that will allow the store to stay at the address. The Boston Globe reports that the store will relocate to a new space within the building, likely in summer 2019. Owner Adam Hirsch says, “This was really a relief and we’re thrilled. The whole team is very excited to know that we’re staying in Harvard Square.” As we reported previously, the last of the scheduled Barnes & Noble concept stores […]
People, Awards, Etc.
In personnel news, Pippa White has joined Callisto Media as editor. Previously she was an associate editor at Chronicle Books. Picks Target announced its December, January, and February Book Club Picks. The picks for December are The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak and The Party by Robyn Harding. The picks for January and February are The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O’Neill and The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti, respectively. Awards Michael Redhill won the Giller Prize for his novel Bellevue Square (Doubleday Canada). Poets & Writers announced the recipients of their 2018 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Awards: Chimamanda Ngozi […]
Sandell Proposes Desperate-Sounding Plan to Take Barnes & Noble Private with Borrowed Funds
Small-time investor Sandell Capital Management got exactly nowhere with their summer campaign to goad Barnes & Noble into selling itself to a nonexistent buyer for a pricetag not offered by anyone of $900 million. So now they have reformulated the plan into a “proposed transaction” that would have the company taken private at a lower value — $650 million or so — by using crushing leverage from a not-yet-existing lender and the participation of an unwilling Len Riggio and other shareholders. The plan, as described in the WSJ on Thursday afternoon, calls for raising a big $500 million in debt […]
People, Etc.
Maris Kreizman will leave her position as editorial director of Book of the Month club on November 30 after a little over a year with the company, to give her “full attention back to my own writing.” At William Morrow, Heidi Richter has been promoted to senior publicity director, while Anwesha Basu moves up to publicity director. In the UK, Charlie Brotherstone has opened his own literary agency, Brotherstone Creative Management. Brotherstone was at Ed Victor Ltd., representing his own clients and running the film/TV, serial and speakers departments, and a number of years at A.M. Heath. Brotherstone Creative Management will sell rights […]