The NYT got a copy of Condoleeza Rice‘s memoir NO HIGHER HONOR a week before its November 1 publication by Crown, revealing that she clashed “repeatedly” with vice president Dick Cheney and defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and “at one point even threatened to resign when she felt circumvented.” That confrontation occurred in November 2001 when she learned President George W. Bush had issued an order prepared by the White House counsel Alberto Gonzales authorizing military commissions without telling her: “If this happens again,” she told the president, “either Al Gonzales or I will have to resign.” NYT Former Seal Team […]
New Releases/Forthcoming
Reading Steve Jobs
A rash of copies of the embargoed Steve Jobs biography were purchased by news organizations yesterday, which may dampen the appeal of Fortune’s “exclusive” excerpt which is still being held for Monday. The AP recounts that he raged at one-time Apple board member Eric Schmidt in 2010 when a Google Android phone appeared with iPhone-like features. “I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong,” Jobs said. “I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go […]
Cain Campaign Buys the Book
Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain is helping his book sales the old-fashioned way–using campaign funds to buy copies, apparently at full price. The campaign bought the books from Cain’s own independent company, THE New Voice, Inc., which sells the books at list price of $25. The $36,511 reported spent on books would buy roughly 1,450 undiscounted copies–though the amounts are a little fuzzy, since the campaign paid Cain’s company for other booklets and services as well, and keeps revising the total amounts paid. The FEC has ruled in the past that a campaign can “purchase copies of [a] book from […]
News Briefs
The Jennifer Lyons Literary Agency has acquired a number of authors for representation from Rosalie Siegel, International Agency, Inc., including the estate of William Wharton, Dennis Covington, Dana Johnson, Rev Jen and cookbook author Sudha Koul. Siegel is joining Lyons as a consultant, and has referred additional authors to the agency. Stephanie Madoff Mack’s memoir THE END OF NORMAL: A Wife’s Anguish, A Widow’s New Life, has been moved up to an October 20 pub date by Blue Rider Press (with Laurie Sandell’s Madoff book set for October 31 release). Associate publisher for Blue Rider Aileen Boyle tells us the […]
People, Etc.
At Scholastic’s trade publishing division, editorial director David Levithan has been promoted to publisher and editorial director. In other promotions, Charisse Meloto moves up to executive director of publicity for print and digital publishing; Bess Braswell is now director of marketing; Victoria Tisch is director of marketing operations; Maria Dominguez is executive editor and manager, Scholastic en español; and Paul Banks moves up to executive art director, licensed publishing and school market originals. Simon & Schuster’s children’s imprints Aladdin and Simon Pulse will co-publish Beyond Words Publishing‘s children’s list. S&S will handle sales, distribution, and fulfillment of their 10 to […]
eNews: Kobo Pairs with Fnac in France; BlueFire Goes International; and More
Kobo has announced their next international ebook alliance, with France’s top bookselling chain Fnac. Set to launch “within the fourth quarter” of this year both online and in 81 Fnac stores, the bookseller has committed to having “ereading experts on hand to give personalized in-store demonstrations,” taking a cue from Barnes & Noble’s Nook boutiques. They promise “the largest catalog of ebooks in France” without specifying a number of titles on a platform that will be called “Kobo by Fnac.” (Amazon launched their Kindle store last week with about 35,000 titles in French. This time a year ago, Fnac said […]