Kodansha and Dai Nippon Printing announced they are buying nearly equal stakes in smaller Japanese publisher Vertical, for an undisclosed sum. Kodansha will own 46.7% of the company, and Dai Nippon will hold a 46% stake. In addition, current COO Yoshinobu Noma will succeed Sawako Noma as Kodansha CEO in April.Anime News Network Syracuse University Press will no longer print copies of Montclair State University professor Fawzia Afzal-Khan’s fictionalized memoir Lahore With Love: Growing Up With Girlfriends Pakistani Style, published last year, after receiving legal threats from a woman in Pakistan who says that a character is based on her […]
Deals
Leak of Unsold Palin Tell-All By Former Aide Draws Attention
On Friday a manuscript of a tell-all by former Sarah Palin chief of staff Frank Bailey was leaked widely. Originally called Renegade: Sarah Palin’s Hatchet Man, the 456-page manuscript is now called Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: A Memoir of Our Tumultuous Years. (By one account, Bailey first tried to sell a book in 2009 after Palin resigned as governor of Alaska.) It’s co-written with Jeanne Devon and Ken Morris, who says the leaked version is an “unauthorized draft” that is still being revised. He claims the release was “an unethical breach and I’m disgusted by it.” The pitch letter […]
WikiLeaks Assange Is Writing to Raise Funds
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange claims he had to sell a memoir to raise funds to defend himself, telling the Times of London, “I don’t want to write this book, but I have to. I have already spent [more than $300,000] for legal costs, and I need to defend myself and keep WikiLeaks afloat.” Did anyone tell him how long it was going to take collect his advance? Assange says Knopf is paying about $800,000 and Canongate is paying him approximately $500,000. He estimates that money from serialization and other territories will add another few hundred thousand dollars, though again its […]
WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Has Memoirs Coming from Knopf and Canongate In March
Canongate bought rights to Julian Assange’s memoirs for the UK and translations from Caroline Michel at PFD but he won’t be contemplating his life for long, due to deliver a manuscript in March 2011 for publication later in the year. Knopf bought rights here. Daily Finance
Updates of All Kinds
1. Despite the skepticism expressed yesterday by co-author of the self-published success THE INVESTMENT ANSWER Dan Goldie about “whether there could be advantages” to having an established publisher take over, people familiar with the negotiations tell us that agent Laurie Liss at Sterling Lord Literistic is well along the path towards a sale, reportedly with multiple seven-figure bids offered and a deal announcement expected shortly. 2. If you read at least some mild skepticism in Barnes & Noble‘s report yesterday on the status of their investigation of strategic options for the company, then you will find credence in this report […]
Canada Gets their Giller-Winner In Stock
As promised last week, publisher of Giller-winning THE SENTIMENTALISTS Gaspereau Press announced today that they have licensed trade paperback rights to another independent publisher, Vancouver’s Douglas & McIntyre. D&M says they are printing 30,000 copies of the $19.95 (CA) paperback for shipment from the bindery on November 19, with paper on hand for a 20,000-copy reprint. The book has been available in ebook form in Canada from Kobo, and D&M will expand distribution to include Kindle, Nook, Sony and the iBookstore. Gaspereau will continue to fulfill orders for their $27.95 hardcover, which they print themselves.