When Penguin Press announced their acquisition of Marja Mills‘s THE MOCKINGBIRD NEXT DOOR: LIFE WITH HARPER LEE in 2011, saying it was written with “direct access to Harper and Alice Lee,” Harper Lee’s attorneys released a letter in which the renowned author said, ” I have not willingly participated in any book written or to be written by Marja Mills. Neither have I authorized such a book. Any claims otherwise are false.” Just prior to publication on July 15, Harper Lee has provided another broader letter, via attorney Tonja Carter (sent to Mary McDonagh Murphy, who directed “Hey Boo: Harper Lee & To Kill a […]
New Releases/Forthcoming
Tyndale Shelves Pastor Mark Driscoll’s Next Book
Tyndale House has severely curtailed its ties with megachurch pastor Mark Driscoll, who had been under fire for using Result Source to boost his NYT bestseller list ranking, and was the subject of accusations of plagiarism and improper attributions as well. The Daily Beast reports the publishing house has put Driscoll’s next scheduled book, THE PROBLEM WITH CHRISTIANITY, on hold and will not reprint the Mars Hill Church leader’s 2013 title A CALL FOR RESURGENCE. Tyndale senior public relations manager Todd Starowitz said THE PROBLEM WITH CHRISTIANITY, originally slated for publication in September, “does not have a planned release date” […]
People
Samhain Publishing owner Christina Brashear has returned to the operational role of publisher and “her first order of business was to restructure the editorial team.” Publisher Lindsey Faber is leaving and will serve a consulting role, and editorial director Heather Osborn will become a freelance editor. Brashear says, “Samhain will be returning to its roots of finding and publishing bestselling romance writers” such as Maya Banks and Lorelei James. She pledges a “renewed dedication to monetize subsidiary rights” for the list of over 2,500 novels. The Samhain Horror line under editor Don D’Auria will double its publishing volume in the next […]
CBS News Breaks Corporate Partner Simon & Schuster’s Clinton Embargo
After all the minor stories about Hillary Clinton’s forthcoming book HARD CHOICES — including meta-stories about the management of the rollout and the willingness of the media to bite for each nibble offered — it’s Simon & Schuster’s corporate brethren at CBS News that “purchased a copy at a bookstore” and broke the June 10 embargo. Clinton addresses the earlier negotiations over the release of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, writing, “I acknowledged, as I had many times before, that opening the door to negotiations with the Taliban would be hard to swallow for many Americans after so many years of war.” […]
Amazon Recommends Two Hachette Books They Aren’t Selling
Lily King’s EUPHORIA — one of our Publishers Lunch Spring/Summer Buzz Books — tops Amazon’s best books of June list as their Spotlight pick, along with Courtney Maum’s I AM HAVING SO MUCH FUN WITHOUT YOU as the Featured Debut. More curious, however, is that two of the titles the bookseller’s “editors have hand picked as this month’s best” are not actually available for sale on the site: Megan Abbott’s THE FEVER (Little, Brown) and Tom Rob Smith’s THE FARM (Grand Central) are “currently unavailable” as part of Amazon’s standoff with Hachette Book Group.
Booksellers See HRC
One prominent event at Book Expo on Friday was unlisted appearance by Hillary Clinton in advance of the June 10 release of HARD CHOICES. Hosted by Simon & Schuster, she addressed a group of about 120 booksellers. The publisher says that Clinton “spoke briefly about her experience writing the book, and some of the issues that matter most to her, then posed for pictures with attendees.” Here she is with Simon & Schuster publisher Jonathan Karp at Javits. Separately, it’s the darndest thing, but someone interested in Clinton’s public image helped Politico “obtain” one controversial chapter from the embargoed book: […]