The back-and-forth struggle for survival of Toronto’s Pages bookstres is ending the hard way: after 30 years, the store will close as the end of August. The store first warned of trouble last October, but in January it was reported that they had successfully signed a new lease at an acceptable rent. Now Torontoist says “in the end there simply wasn’t a choice. Rent is growing faster than sales, and for all that Pages is deeply loved, the cash crunch got to be too much.” Known for “curating the indie set’s reading list and nurturing Toronto’s newest and freshest literary […]
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Amazon Drops Kindle Price to $299
Amazon has lowered the price of the basic Kindle 2 reader by $60 to $299. Having previously insisted that they could not afford to lower the price, spokesman Drew Herdener now says, “Whenever we are able to create cost efficiencies like this, we pass the savings along to our customers.”Bloomberg
Grisham to Write Spec Screenplay About Four Sailors Who Claim Were Wrongly Convicted
The novelist is working on a screenplay about Virginia’s Norfolk Four. “It’s the most egregious case of wrongful conviction I’ve seen, and I travel around the country listening to stories about these cases,” Grisham says. He expects to have a draft finished by the fall, but for now he is writing it on spec. Tom Wells and Richard Leo published a book on the case, THE WRONG GUYS: Murder, False Confessions, and the Norfolk Four, last November with the New Press. Grisham said he hoped the project would help the three imprisoned sailors. “You can’t forget about those guys. I’m […]
5,000-Word First Serial for Nabokov's Original of Laura to Playboy
The magazine won rights to the forthcoming unfinished novella after the New Yorker passed. Literary editor Amy Grace Lord says, “I’m happy to tell you we’ve never paid this much for a book excerpt before, ever.” She adds, “There are parts of it that are much more cohesive than others. But I found it fascinating in that way.”Observer
People
At St. Martin’s, director of marketing and publishing operations/hardcover Matt Baldacci and marketing director/SMP paperbacks Anne Marie Tallberg have both been promoted to associate publisher for their respective divisions. Sally Richardson and Matthew Shear praise “their enormous contributions in sales and marketing that have so contributed to our growth and health. In their new roles, they will continue to work together and with others to further our publishing goals.” Leis Pederson has been promoted to associate editor for the Berkley publishing group. Ruth Katcher has joined Egmont USA as editor-at-large. Most recently she was an executive editor at Harper Children’s. […]
Paul Marsh Dies
Founder of London-based The Marsh Agency, Paul Marsh died suddenly on Sunday in Milan while visiting publishers and clients. Originally focused on selling translation rights for other agents and publishers, Marsh founded his agency in 1994 along with his wife Susanna Nicklin (who now is director of literature for the British Council). A brief notice from Midas Public Relations says that a more detailed statement “will follow shortly.” We’ll remember Marsh as one of the world’s lovely gentlemen of publishing.