WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange claims he had to sell a memoir to raise funds to defend himself, telling the Times of London, “I don’t want to write this book, but I have to. I have already spent [more than $300,000] for legal costs, and I need to defend myself and keep WikiLeaks afloat.” Did anyone tell him how long it was going to take collect his advance? Assange says Knopf is paying about $800,000 and Canongate is paying him approximately $500,000. He estimates that money from serialization and other territories will add another few hundred thousand dollars, though again its […]
New Releases/Forthcoming
Book Version of Financial Crisis Commission Report Said to be Part of Partisan Rift
The forthcoming report from the Financial Crisis Commission continues to make news. First there was a celebration that they secured an advance and royalties for the authorized book version of the public document, from which they retreated after the first publishing deal with Little, Brown “failed to close,” and Public Affairs took over the US edition. Then the report itself was delayed until some time in January. Now, Bloomberg reports that Republican members of the panel “are planning to register a public protest” against postponing the December 15 deadline, “in part a reaction to a plan that would limit dissenting […]
Palin Piqued At Pre-Pub Excerpts
The Palingates blog and then Gawker have posted pre-publication excerpts from Sarah Palin’s Tuesday release, AMERICA BY HEART. Gawker appears to be trying a new way around copyright infringement charges by posting pictures of book spreads. In all they have complete replicas of 21 pages, from a title that’s listed as running 304 pages in all. Palin herself tweeted yesterday, “The publishing world is leaking out-of-context excerpts of my book w/out my permission? Isn’t that illegal?” HarperCollins did not respond to a query as to whether the company was pursuing legal action over the excerpts. Run-on coverage has focused mostly […]
Financial Crisis Report Delayed
As some observers had anticipated, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission announced that it will deliver its report some time in January 2011 rather than on December 15, as previously planned. They say “the additional time will allow the Commission to produce and disseminate a report which best serves the public interest and more fully informs the President, the Congress and the American people about the facts and causes of the crisis.” The Commission and new trade publisher Public Affairs are expected to announce a new publication date shortly.
Bush Sells 775,000 Copies In First Week On Sale
Crown says that they have recorded sales of 775,000 copies for former President George Bush’s DECISION POINTS in its first week on sale in all editions, including ebooks, audio and export editions. As was the case with the opening-day sale, they say it’s the largest first-week sale for any nonfiction title published by Random House, Inc. since former President Bill Clinton’s book in 2004. eBooks comprised “more than 100,000 copies, or approximately 14 percent of all units” sold (and at least 50,000 ebooks were sold the first day by the company’s prior report). Crown says they have reprinted another 350,000 […]
Wimpy Kid More Nearly Doubles Hefty Bush Opening-Day Sales
Jeff Kinney’s DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: The Ugly Truth, the fifth in his bestselling series, sold over 375,000 copies in its first day on sale according to publisher Abrams. The launch included an event at Book People in Austin, TX, where the author addressed over 1,600 fans to kick off his tour. The specially-branded tour bus will take Kinney to events in Little Rock, Memphis, Nashville, and Birmingham, AL, with up to 2,000 fans expected in the various venues. That opening-day sale is said to be up 50 percent from the big first day for the fourth book in […]