San Francisco Chronicle books editor John McMurtrie announced on Twitter on Wednesday, “I got laid off.” He added, “The bright side? More time for reading.” (Separately, arts and entertainment editor and Sunday datebook editor Leba Hertz tell us she is retiring at the end of the week, by her choice.) We queried editor-in-chief Audrey Cooper about what McMurtrie’s dismissal means for their coverage, and she writes: “We still plan on having robust coverage of books, including reviews. This personnel decision is not a reflection of the importance of that content for The Chronicle.” Lisa Erwin has been promoted to director […]
Deals
New EL James Novel The Mister to Publish on April 16
EL James has finally written a new book — not just another retelling of the Fifty Shades of Grey series — and THE MISTER will be published in English on April 16. Vintage will once again publish it as a trade paperback original in North American and the open market, with PRH UK’s Arrow publishing in the UK and Commonwealth, excluding Canada. Vintage and Anchor publisher Anne Messitte acquired rights from Valerie Hoskins at Valerie Hoskins Associates, with Susan Sandon buying UK rights. Vintage will issue a Spanish language edition in North America later in the spring, and ILA is selling […]
Bill Clinton Has Another Nonfiction Book with Knopf
Former President Bill Clinton is at work on another book for his longtime publisher Knopf, this one about his post-presidential life — confirmed by a spokesman, and reported to the NYT by “people familiar with the project” as well. Paul Bogaards at Knopf “said there was still no timetable for publication and that while the book is about Mr. Clinton’s post-White House life it is still too ‘early to assess what ground will be covered.'” As usual, Clinton was represented by Bob Barnett at Williams & Connolly.
The Deal on Deals
As you may recall, last year we did a lot of work on our signature “deals” data stream — adding a number of new categories, revising our main deal reporting form, and creating a new translation rights deal reporting form. Now, by popular demand, we have posted an extensive list of tips on filling on the new forms, as well as explaining some of our policies and practices. Little section headers let you jump to deal report tips (including how to report film/tv deals; translation rights deal report tips (including how and where to note all the levels of sub-agents […]
Dealmaking Is Modest Heading into Frankfurt, As Nonfiction and Film/TV Gain
With the Frankfurt Book Fair now officially underway, it’s time for our regular look at dealmaking trends ahead of the show (in the five week period from the day after Labor Day to yesterday). This year’s deal activity has been in line with both recent trends — ahead of the London Book Fair in April major nonfiction deals were robust, with overall US deal volumes just below flat — and long-term patterns, which had pre-FBF deal totals peaking in 2013 and 2014, and declining slightly year-over-year since. As we have seen before, nonfiction volumes remained strong, as fiction deals continue […]
More Deals Details
Our busy stretch of refining and expanding aspects of our sprawling Deals database continues, and you will see the latest wrinkle in the next weekly round-up. The ever-growing section of international deal reports will now be presented alphabetically by territory (with sales in multiple territories listed together at the end). The new categorization is a direct outgrowth of the dedicated translation deal report form we introduced earlier this summer, which gives each transaction territory-specific tagging. Please note that all non-English sales should be reported through this form now — and all other deal reports should use the revamped regular deal […]