NY Magazine also lists their 20 “most anticipated” fall books: 1. Our Tragic Universe, by Scarlett Thomas2. Zero History, by William Gibson3. The Hilliker Curse: My Pursuit of Women, by James Ellroy4. Ape House, by Sara Gruen5. C, by Tom McCarthy6. Storyteller: The Authorized Biography of Roald Dahl, by Donald Sturrock7. Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, by Danielle Evans8. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, trans. Lydia Davis9. Untitled on the Obama Administration, by Bob Woodward10. By Nightfall, by Michael Cunningham11. Nemesis, by Philip Roth12. Great House, by Nicole Krauss13. Mourning Diary, by Roland Barthes14. How to Read the […]
New Releases/Forthcoming
USA Today Rails Against Rhonde Byrne’s “Crackpot Theories”
Simon & Schuster’s Atria Books is counting on solid sales for Rhonda Byrne’s THE POWER as noted yesterday, but with today’s release media skepticism about the book’s message is rising. USA Today takes an unusually aggressive position for the paper, with Deirde Donahue deriding Byrne’s “crackpot theories about finance.” Calling the book “a novel solution to our money woes,” the basic message, as Byrne writes, is that “it’s the attractive force of love that moves all the money in the world, and whoever is giving love by feeling good is a magnet for money.” Donahue cites “creepy element[s]” that include […]
Hoping for Some Sales Power
The Secret author Rhonda Byrne’s new book THE POWER may be more important for Simon & Schsuter than the so-called “besieged book world,” but with 924,000 pre-orders for this Tuesday’s release strong sales would certainly be welcomed by retailers. As the WSJ reports, Atria has delayed the ebook release, supposedly for some “fine tuning.” Unfortunately Byrne will not be doing television interviews in support of the book–so Atria has prepared a campaign of TV ad spots instead. The article also mentions what may be August’s most-anticipated release, the laydown of Suzanne Collins’ MOCKINGJAY on the 24th.WSJ Crain’s offers a sweeping-if-not-particularly-specific […]
Book Trends
USA Today has already run two interesting pieces this week. Today they highlight the just-releasing August Indie Next pick THE TOWER, THE ZOO, AND THE TORTOISE by Julia Stuart from Doubleday as “earning comparisons to the surprise 2008 best seller The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.” R.J. Julia Booksellers buyer Karen Corvello says “It’s a front-runner for my most beloved book of the fall. The only difficulty I had was deciding which character I loved the best.” Other booksellers call it “whimsical,” “charming” and “gentle.”USAT Yesterday the paper offered a long feature on the non-stop rise of inspirational […]
Unusual Deal for Financial Crisis Report Gives Treasury An Advance and Royalties
The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and its staff journalist Matt Cooper have made a deal with Little, Brown for “authorized” publication of their report about the 2008 collapse on December 15 in both print and digital versions. As is usually the case with government documents, the publisher’s version will compete with a free downloadable version available on government web sites. But everything else about the deal, which the commission announced in a terse statement last week, is less traditional. As the Washington Post writes, the government retained two agents–Will Lippincott at Lippincott Massie McQuilkin and Joe Spieler of the Spieler […]
Robust Release for Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth
Abrams announced the previously undisclosed title of Jeff Kinney’s fifth Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, which publishes on November 9, and The Ugly Truth will get a first printing of 5 million copies. Abrams says 35 million copies of Wimpy Kid books are in print already in the US. Last fall’s DOG DAYS had an announced four-million-copy first printing and the publisher went back to press for another 500,000 right after the release, with an estimated first-week sale in excess of 750,000 units. Kinney says in the announcement, “To me, the fifth book is the linchpin of the series. […]