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 […]
Deals
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.
Financial Crisis Commission Report Moves from Little, Brown to Public Affairs
In August the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission proudly hailed an unusual deal with Little, Brown for “authorized” publication of their report about the 2008 collapse that would provide the government with both an advance and royalties. Reports at the time said that five of the six largest publishers had bid, and Little, Brown was selected for “the intangibles.” But the WSJ reported yesterday that the original publishing deal “failed to close” for undisclosed reasons. Will Lippincott at Lippincott Massie McQuilkin, who co-agented the report with Joe Spieler of the Spieler Agency, confirms that Public Affairs will publish the report in […]
Open Road and Cursor Announce Lists, and More Imprint News
Open Road has announced four titles that they will publish this fall as ebook originals: Jonathon King’s MIDNIGHT GUARDIANS, the sixth book in his Edgar Award- winning Max Freeman mystery series (along with ebook versions of the first five Freeman mysteries and two standalone novels)Mary Glickman’s first novel, HOME IN THE MORNINGGenre veteran Alan Dean Foster’s memoir PREDATORS I HAVE KNOWNEntertainment journalist Jo Piazza’s CELEBRITY INC. With world rights to all the titles, publisher Brendan Cahill will represent publishing rights at the Frankfurt Book Fair, with co-founder Jeff Sharp representing film/TV rights. Separately, Richard Nash‘s long-discussed start-up Cursor may actually […]
Pre-Frankfurt Analysis: Where the Deals, and Aren’t
With the Frankfurt Book Fair officially opening on Wednesday (and dealmaking already underway at the Frankfurter Hof), “mood”-watchers like the Guardian are already proclaiming last year’s recession-induced “austerity” over. Publisher of Harper UK’s Blue Door Patrick Janson Smith says, “People have short memories. It was instant panic last year but now it’s back to business.” But the schedule has also affected the key pre-Frankfurt selling season. With a late Labor Day followed quickly by the Jewish holidays and an earlier-than-usual Frankfurt itself, there have been barely a few “shopping weeks” prior to this year’s fair. We decided to look past […]
Unusual Deal for Financial Crisis Report Gives Treasury An Advance and Royalties
The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and its staff journalist Matt Cooper have made a deal with Little, Brown for “authorized” publication of their report about the 2008 collapse on December 15 in both print and digital versions. As is usually the case with government documents, the publisher’s version will compete with a free downloadable version available on government web sites. But everything else about the deal, which the commission announced in a terse statement last week, is less traditional. As the Washington Post writes, the government retained two agents–Will Lippincott at Lippincott Massie McQuilkin and Joe Spieler of the Spieler […]