The Charlie Sheen circus is visiting book publishing this week as Foundry Literary + Media agent Peter McGuigan has been eliciting offers for a Charlie Sheen book. McGuigan didn’t comment to Crain’s New York (which had the first report) or the AP. Sheen himself said in one of his ustream performances that he would like to write a book called Apocalypse Me: the Jaws of Life, and suggested that it should be an ebook exclusive since “we need to save trees. I love trees.” Crain’s believes McGuigan is “close to making a deal” (without exploring the tricky issue of whether […]
Deals
E-News: ALA Statement on “New Challenges in E-Environment”; Macmillan Sells E-Books Direct Through Diesel; and More
The American Library Association announced the creation of two new task forces, the presidential task force on Equitable Access to Electronic Content (EQUACC) and the E-book Task Force, to address “recent publisher changes affecting libraries’ ability to provide e-books to the public,” namely HarperCollins’ stance on capping e-book lending. In a meeting this week, the EQUACC recommended the ALA “conduct an environmental scan to understand the current landscape and project future scenarios”, work within and outside ALA “to improve access to electronic information for all, with a particular focus on people with disabilities,” identify and support new e-lending models, and […]
Announcements: BN Settles Spring Design Lawsuit; McGraw-Hill Buys Bookette; Quarto Buys Cool Springs Press; and More
Barnes & Noble has settled with Spring Design over the 2009 lawsuit on whether the Nook’s design breached patent agreements for the now discontinued Alex Reader. Under terms of the agreement, Spring is granting Barnes & Noble a non-exclusive license for all of its patents and patent applications. Other terms of the settlement were not disclosed.Release McGraw-Hill has bought Bookette Software Co., a privately held provider of automated scoring for tests, including written exams.Terms of the deal were not disclosed.Release AbeBooks’ European division will acquire ZVAB.com, a leading online marketplace of German rare antiquarian books, from Mediantis AG. The acquisition […]
Bookselling: Waterstone’s Sales Talk; Foyles on the Move; Nontraditional Outlets; and More
Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut, who has increased his stake in Waterstone’s to more than 6 percent over the past few weeks, is now reportedly in talks with the company to buy the chain outright in a joint bid with founder Tim Waterstone. Mamut has hired Credit Suisse to assist in the potential bid. ThisIsMoney.co.uk Foyles will move its flagship space from its current home on 113-119 Charing Cross Road, where it has been since 1906, to a new store down the street sometime in 2013. The nearly 75,000 square foot space, almost double the present location, was bought by Foyle […]
Briefs: Kodansha and Dai Nippon Buy Vertical; Syracuse University Press Pulls Fictionalized Memoir; and More
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 […]
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 […]