The New York Times won’t be obtaining any copies of Dan Brown’s new book from Amazon, where the e-tailer’s home page carries a note promoting the new release from Jeff Bezos–who insists that “even inside Random House, only a half dozen employees have been allowed to read The Lost Symbol in its entirety.” (Is it supposed to be reassuring that almost no one at the publisher worked with the author on preparing his book for publication?) Amazon has “agreed to keep our stockpile under 24-hour guard in its own chain-link enclosure, with two locks requiring two separate people for entry.” […]
New Releases/Forthcoming
Ridge Keeps Trying to Explain What He Wrote; Disavows Flap Copy
Former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge’s book THE TEST OF OUR TIMES: America Under Siege…And How We Can Be Safe Again (Thomas Dunne Books) has drawn attention primarily for a single passage–and Ridge has been making the press circuit trying to explain that he didn’t mean what people think his words say. Ridge wrote of discussions right before the 2004 presidential election, following the release of a new video from Osama Bin Laden, in which “a vigorous, some might say dramatic discussion ensued. Ashcroft strongly urged an increase in the threat level, and was supported by Rumsfeld. There was […]
Sony Will Sell Wireless E-Reader for $399
Sony unveiled its first-ever wireless e-reading device at a press conference held at the New York Public Library Tuesday morning. The seven-inch touchscreen Sony Daily Edition will be priced at $399, work on AT&T’s 3G network, and will be available by Christmas. In addition to the devices (they also officially confirmed the $199 and $299 next-generation e-readers), Sony also announced several other initiatives, including a partnership with libraries that will let readers rent digitized books from their local library for free by downloading available e-books for 21 days, an update of the Sony Reader Ebook Library Software 3.0 for both […]
Next Oprah Book Club Pick Revealed on September 18
It’s been almost a full year since Oprah made her most recent book club pick of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski, and according to the Newtonville Books Community Blog, #63 will be a Little, Brown trade paperback title priced at $14.99, with an announced first printing of 500,000 and ISBN # 978-0-316-08637-0. Amazon reports differing metadata, listing the Oprah #63 pick as a $23.99 hardcover with an ISBN of 978-0-316-08636-3. Neither listing includes an approximate page count. On Twitter, Oprah implored viewers to tune in on Friday, September 18, saying she’d “never made a selection like ‘this.'” […]
New Four-Book Deal for Lemony Snicket
Egmont acquired UK and Commonwealth rights for a new four-book series by Lemony Snicket (aka Daniel Handler), whose 13-book “Series of Unfortunate Events” have sold over 60 million copies worldwide and been translated into 39 languages. The first book in the new, untitled series will be published in 2012. No US publisher has been announced, and when reached for comment, HarperCollins Children’s Executive Director of Publicity Sandee Roston said “I am not aware of a deal at this time.” Snicket’s agent, Charlotte Sheedy, is away on vacation and couldn’t be reached for comment.Guardian
Fall Forecasts from the AP, NYMag
“Cautious optimism” is the buzzword of the AP’s fall preview, as a fall season crowded with titles (especially literary fiction, not to mention one by someone named Dan Brown) has publishers in a better mood. “It’s not that we’re back to the extremely strong sales of more than a year ago, but we’re trending upward,” S&S CEO Carolyn Reidy said. “After taking our expectations down for so long, we’re finally taking them up.” Or as Left Bank Books co-owner Barry Leibman phrased it, “”We were down 20 percent this summer, which I used to think of as horrible. But we […]