An unabridged collection of the first two years of consultant Mike Shatzkin’s publishing strategy blog The Shatzkin Files has been released as an ebook, billed at roughly 800 pages and listing for $3.99. Kobo, which first suggested the publication to Shatzkin, has an exclusive on the title for the first 60 days. eBook link
New Releases/Forthcoming
Memory Lane: Steven Tyler On His Book…From 2009
A recent announcement from HarperCollins confirmed that Steven Tyler’s autobiography DOES THE NOISE IN MY HEAD BOTHER YOU? will be published May 3, promising “the unbridled truth…straight for the horse’s lips.” Overlooked by many outlets is that Tyler signed to write the book in 2008 and it was originally scheduled for publication the following year. That’s when the rocker, before he was spruced up for regular public consumption on American Idol, appeared at Book Expo America. Interviewed by Chuck Klosterman, you may recall it is one of the odder BEA celebrity showcase presentations, as Tyler was joined on stage by […]
Briefs: Controversy over The Pale King On-Sale Date; Details on Stephenie Meyer’s Next Novel; and More
Little, Brown made much hay of publishing David Foster Wallace‘s unfinished novel The Pale King on April 15, since that day is tax day (except this year it’s not, thanks to a tardy Congress) and the book features the day-to-day thoughts and deeds of IRS agents. But the book’s actual on-sale date was March 22, which is how Amazon, BN.com and other online retailers started shipping copies to customers – even though most independent bookstores weren’t selling the book yet or hadn’t even received copies, believing or having been told the book was embargoed. “I don’t really understand the confusion,” […]
A Look at Borders’ Liquidation Process as More Leases Are Rejected
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 […]
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 […]