The direct-sale start-up OR Books, founded by John Oakes and Colin Robinson, announced their inaugural title yesterday–which just happens to share some striking similarities with another prominent forthcoming release. OR Books is issuing GOING ROUGE: Sarah Palin, An American Nightmare on November 17, the same day when HarperCollins publishes GOING ROGUE: An American Life by Sarah Palin. Comprising essays assembled by Nation editors Richard Kim and Betsy Reed, it promises “progressive perspectives on Sarah Palin’s political career” by writers including Naomi Klein, Jane Mayer, Katha Pollitt, Jim Hightower, Christopher Hayes, Gloria Steinem, Joe Conason, and Tom Frank. Harper had […]
New Releases/Forthcoming
New Follett Trilogy Will Debut In Five Languages A Year from Now
Two years ago at Frankfurt Writers House lined up approximately $50 million worth of contracts for Ken Follett’s new trilogy The Century, and at this year’s show the agency is announcing publication on September 28, 2010 of FALL OF GIANTS, the first installment in that new line. Further books will follow in two-year intervals. GIANTS is described as “following the destinies of five interrelated families – one American, one Russian, one German, one English and one Welsh – through the earth-shaking events of the First World War and the Russian Revolution.” Penguin will publish in the US; Pan Macmillan in […]
Nelson Offers Self-Publishing
We’ve often wondered when publishers would find ways of saying “yes” to the slush pile instead of turning customers away. Having discussed the possibility at TOC last winter, Thomas Nelson has launched a self-publishing imprint, WestBow Press–though they are outsourcing the bulk of the operation to self-publishing giant Author Solutions. AS will design, publish and distribute the books. Nelson’s primary roles appears to be sharing revenue and promising customers an “opportunity to be discovered by parent company Thomas Nelson…. For authors who hope to one day be signed by a traditional publisher, this is an opportunity to get your foot […]
More Mueller On the Way
Yesterday Serpent’s Tail announced that THE PASSPORT, Nobel winner Herta Mueller’s her first book in English translation, originally published by them in 1989, will be reissued October 19th as a $12.95 paperback. Macmillan tells Bloomberg that they are reprinting 5,000 hardcover copies each of the THE LAND OF GREEN PLUMS (Northwestern University Press has the paperback rights, as noted yesterday, and is reprinting 20,000 copies) and THE APPOINTMENT, along with 20,000 paperbacks of the latter. Northwestern tells Bloomberg they are also negotiating to reprint TRAVELING ON ONE LEG. And the University of Nebraska Press reminded the trade they have Mueller’s […]
Announcements: Hefty Printing for Wimpy Kid, and More
Abrams announced a four-million-copy laydown for Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days on Monday, October 12. And the publisher reports “more than 300,000 reservations” of copies. Separately, Hachette Book Group is expanding their distribution relationship with Chronicle Books (and Chronicle’s own roster of distribution clients) to include sales and distribution immediately in Latin America; and starting January 1 in the Middle East and Caribbean. In personnel news, Quill & Quire reported that Raincoast Books founder and ceo Allan MacDougall, 62, has stepped down. VP and business manager John Sawyer, “who had been handling most of the day-to-day operations for […]
Judge Denies Cryogenics Company Alcor's Effort to Block Whistleblower's Book
As threatened last week, Alcor Life Extension filed suit in New York Supreme Court against author (and former company coo) Larry Johnson and publisher Vanguard Press, seeking a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order blocking today’s publication of his book FROZEN: My Journey Into the World of Cryonics, Deception and Death. After hearing oral arguments on Monday, Judge James Yates denied the motion, unwilling to exercise prior restraint. The book received pre-publication attention over the weekend following reports that the book alleges the Arizona cryonics business mistreated the frozen head of former baseball great Ted Williams, hitting his head with […]