Bloomberg takes a closer look at the Borders liquidation process and how it’s being handled by Hilco, who agreed to pay Borders 85.75 percent of the “cost value” of all merchandise, somewhere between $180.6 million and $204 million. But one of Hilco’s competitors in the liquidation auction, Great American Group director Scott Carpenter, bowed out because the firm “didn’t think you could achieve those values and make a profit.” Previously Borders told the bankruptcy court they expected liquidation sales to bring in about $175 million. Bloomberg In addition, federal bankruptcy court filings indicate the approval of nine Borders lease rejections in […]
New Releases/Forthcoming
Catherine Cookson Estate To Sell Digital Books Direct, and Other eNews
Add the estate of Catherine Cookson to the growing number of authors selling digital backlist titles directly (and, in this instance, exclusively through Amazon in the US and UK.) The author’s literary representatives at Sheil Land formed a separate company, Peach Tree Publishing, which will sell 91 Cookson titles as ebooks priced between $1.50 and $5.99. Cookson’s agent Sonia Land engages in some mutual controversy-starting with the Daily Mail by saying she never informed Cookson’s print publishers Transworld or Simon & Schuster of the ebook plan: I haven’t told either firm about the deal and I am sure they are going […]
St. Martin’s Pays a Reported $2M For Four Books By Amanda Hocking, Self-Publishing’s Reluctant Heroine
This year every week in publishing could be considered eventful, but this week in particular had a special kind of symmetry, as the very publishing house Barry Eisler walked away from to publish on his own brought Amanda Hocking into the fold. Despite sources indicating otherwise a few days ago, St. Martin’s emerged the victor of the auction for Hocking’s new Watersong YA paranormal series, reportedly paying more than $2 million for World English rights (which, of course, includes digital rights, too.) “I’ve done as much with self-publishing as any person can do,” Hocking told the NYT Thursday. “People have […]
As the Publishing World Turns: Amanda Hocking Close to Seven-Figure Book Deal
On the same day Barry Eisler turned down half a million dollars from Minotaur Books to self-publish, news emerged publicly that Amanda Hocking appears to be doing the exact opposite. Yesterday afternoon the NYT finally caught wind of what many in the industry have known about for weeks now, which is that agent Steve Axelrod is shopping a new four-book series to publishers, attracting bids “of well over $1 million for world English rights,” according to two unnamed publishing executives who spoke with the paper, and that the auction may be complete by today. Sources in turn tell us that Penguin […]
People, Authors, Etc.
Knopf publisher Sonny Mehta will receive the London Book Fair’s Lifetime Achievement Award in International Publishing. Nancy Planitzer is joining Greater Talent Network as an account executive as part of their Publishers Speakers Bureaus division (which works with both SImon & Schuster and Hachette Book Group). She was formerly an account coordinator with the Macmillan Speakers Bureau. Franklin & Siegal has been appointed literary scout for China Citic Press in Beijing. Michael Chabon and his wife Ayelet Waldman are co-writing and executive producing a drama for HBO, currently called Hobgoblin, about “a motley group of con-men and magicians who use […]
Upcoming: Stephen King’s ’11/22/63′; George RR Martin’s Next Game of Thrones Novel; Billy Joel’s Memoir
Stephen King‘s next novel 11/22/63, a 1000-page book “counterfactual” account of the JFK assassination, will be published by Scribner and Hodder & Stoughton on November 8. Announcement The next installment of George RR Martin’s Song of Ice & Fire epic fantasy series will be released by Del Rey/Spectra on July 12. A Dance with Dragons is “close enough to being finished” and comes six years after the previous series entry. EW Finally, HarperCollins will publish Billy Joel’s memoir State of Mind on June 14. The book will explore the “emotional ride” of Joel’s marriages and his struggles with depression and substance abuse.