International Literary Properties (ILP) announced the acquisition of three more literary estates, in whole or in part: A majority interest in the literary estate of New Zealand crime novelist Dame Ngaio Marsh; a majority interest in the literary estate of American true crime author Ann Rule; and full ownership of the literary works of British […]
Deals
First Quarter Deals: Sales Remain At Record Levels, Even As Six-Figure Deals Soften
Following a record year in 2021 for US deal transactions as measured through our PM deal reports, it’s time for an update on deal trends from the first quarter of 2022. To recap the baseline, 2021 saw a surge in dealmaking in the first and second quarters, followed by a modest pullback in the third […]
Newsletter Touts Book Material for Development
Former THR books editor Andy Lewis is writing a weekly column for start-up The Ankler that touts some forthcoming releases still available for film/TV options. Called the Optionist, he writes, “Every Friday, I’ll present un-optioned material from books, magazines, news articles, podcasts, games and graphic novels that I think deserve a look. I will attempt […]
2021: The Year In Deals, and the Stats Behind the Boom
Overall Stats As we documented during the year, deal activity boomed in the first two quarters of 2021: US deal reports were up about 19 percent overall, and six-figure deals rose even more. In the second half of the year, dealmaking remained steady with a strong period from 2020, with the biggest “major” deals jumping […]
Fourth Quarter Deals
Bringing one of our important new projects full cycle, here is our recap of deal statistics for the fourth quarter of 2021. As indicated in our three previous reports, US dealmaking continued to align roughly with consumer book sales, up a little bit in the fourth quarter after a softer third quarter and a robust […]
Getting Gurnah
The NYT reiterates what we reported the day Abdulrazak Gurnah won the Nobel Prize for Literature: From his extensive backlist, only one title was active in the marketplace in print, PARADISE. On October 7, Ingram had about 300 copies available. Working with Ingram’s print-on-demand service, The New Press has been able to make more copies […]