Little Brown UK is expanding their digital imprints (which include Crime Vault and Piatkus Entice) with a line focused on literary fiction, Blackfriars. It launches in July and aims to publish nine to 12 titles a year, under the direction of Abacus publishing director Clare Smith and Virago associated publisher Ursula Doyle. One of their first titles is Benjamin Anastas’s memoir TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, which received some good reviews in the US, but suffered under the limitations of Amazon Publishing. (Ironically, in the UK Amazon still has overwhelming market share for ebooks, so they will still be the primary outlet […]
New Releases/Forthcoming
Briefs: A Cover of Inferno; Audible Updates iOS Apps; Anthology to Close
Doubleday unveiled the cover of Dan Brown‘s May 14 release Inferno on the Today Show this morning. ‘”Inferno takes place in Italy and was inspired by Dante’s iconic 14th century poem of the same name. The cover features a portrait of Dante against the city of Florence, as well as Dante’s famous nine rings of hell.” Apparently Audible has not had a dedicated app for Apple’s iPad line, even though “more than 20 percent of Audible customers already use Audible’s iPhone app on the iPad. They have addressed that with the release of a new app optimized for iPads, and […]
Buzz Builds for Winter Institute Titles, As Two “Life After Life” Novels Share April Indie Next No. 1 Honors
The American Booksellers Association’s Indie Next List for April will name two books with the same title as the shared No. 1 pick: LIFE AFTER LIFE — both Kate Atkinson’s novel, publishing April 2 from Reagan Arthur Books, and Jill McCorkle’s novel of the same name, coming from Algonquin on March 26. The ABA says this is the first time two books have shared the No. 1 slot (let alone two books with the same title). “The reason is that they had an equal amount of support from the indie booksellers.” In a preview of the ABA’s Winter Institute, starting […]
People, Etc.
Alexis Gargagliano has left Scribner after more than 11 years and will work as a freelance editor. She has launched a new website and may be reached at alexisgargagliano@gmail.com. Olga Filina has joined The Rights Factory as an associate agent. She was a literary assistant at The Cooke Agency (after spending more than a decade as a sales manager at national and indie bookstores). To correct Friday’s personnel announcement, Tara Parsons is moving over to Mira as executive editor from HQN and Luna, where she held the same position. Haruki Murakami‘s Japanese publisher says that his next novel will be […]
People, Etc.
Poets & Writers has named Steve Berry, Rigoberto González, and Judith Kelman as the recipients of their annual Writers for Writers Awards. Berry is honored for his dedication to historic preservation of sites of literary importance; Kelman for founding Visible Ink, a writing program at Memorial Sloan Kettering; and González for championing Latina/o writers. Chuck Adams at Algonquin Books will receive their editor’s award and Leonard Riggio will be honored with the organization’s first leadership award “for his transformational impact on the field.” The awards will presented at their annual gala on March 18. Neil Gaiman will give a keynote speech at the London Book Fair’s Digital Minds Conference. Margaret Atwood, Jonathan […]
New Books, and Books In the News
It’s a big week for new releases, and we highlight 15 of them on the regularly-updated Just Published carousel at Bookateria. Featured home page books in the news include the memoir from Shirley MacLaine’s daughter Sachi Parker (LUCKY ME), which MacLaine has denounced; the WSJ questioning Truman Capote‘s “immaculately factual” account in the breakthrough IN COLD BLOOD; Nick Hornby‘s ABOUT A BOY may return to the screen as a television show; and fresh looks at Sylia Plath‘s poetry on the 50th anniversary of her death. For more great February picks, we show Amazon’s books of the month, BN’s February selections, […]