Barack Obama will host a six-episode podcast on Audible about “the books that have profoundly shaped his worldview and our society.” In “A Great Book with Barack Obama,” the former president will be in conversation with to-be-announced guests. The show will debut on September 24 and each episode will be dedicated to a different book: The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin, Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy, Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren, and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré. “Great books have always […]
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US Copyright Office Proposes Higher Fees
The US Copyright Office, once again led by Shira Perlmutter, has proposed higher fees on copyrights to keep pace with rising costs. The new proposed fee schedule would raise fees an average of 43%. For example, a single work by a single author previously cost $45 to register and will now cost $55, an increase of 44%. Perlmutter writes in a letter to vice president JD Vance, “This is the first change to the Office’s fees since 2020. It would permit us to achieve fee recovery of an amount closer to the historical percentage of our operational budget, incorporating a […]
Liveright Pulls Kerri K. Greenidge Book From Website Following Controversy
Liveright has removed Kerri K. Greenidge‘s 2022 book The Grimkes from its website following a Tufts University review that turned up multiple factual errors and issues with citation. Greenidge, who was a tenured associate professor in the Department of Studies in Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora at Tufts, has left the university. The book had received the Joan Kelly Memorial Prize from the American Historical Association, among other honors. Tufts launched a peer review by external scholars after receiving complaints about errors in the book. The NYT writes, “Several other scholars, who described themselves as skeptical of some of Greenidge’s assertions […]
Primary Wave Music Partners With Richard Hurowitz On Backlist Venture
Primary Wave Music, a music publisher that acquires and sells the catalogs of musicians, has partnered with entrepreneur Richard Hurowitz on a company called Atticus Works, which will buy up and repackage backlist titles for a new audience. Primary Wave has invested $100 million, and says they will go higher if needed. The WSJ reports that Hurowitz hopes to acquire “literary fiction, sci-fi and mystery, as well as narrative nonfiction, children’s books and plays” with his “dream roster” including Ernest Hemingway, Agatha Christie, Stephen King, Arthur Miller, Robert Caro and Dr. Seuss. Hurowitz attempted to buy Simon & Schuster in […]
Red Hen Press Crowdfunds After Building Damage, Lost Donors
Independent publisher Red Hen Press has launched a Go Fund Me to raise money for continued operations. The press has a funding gap of approximately $500,000, they note on the site, due to building damage from the windstorm that created the Eaton fire, a flood, and the theft of copper from their AC units. They also lost grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and three other donors that accounted for “nearly 20% of our annual support.” Without additional funding, the press will “be forced to make critical decisions about Red Hen’s future by July 1,” the press writes. […]
Harper Trade Reorganizes Into Seven Groups
Harper Collins will reorganize its US trade division into seven groups—Avon, Dey Street, Harper, Harper Collins Children’s, Harper One, Mariner, and Morrow. “This new alignment will allow each group to operate with greater autonomy, deeper category expertise, and a strategic focus on author development, positioning the imprints for continued growth,” ceo and president of the trade division Liate Stehlik said in a release. The change pulls Dey Street and Avon out of Morrow and into their own groups. Dey Street will be led by Carrie Thornton. As previously reported, May Chen and Tessa Woodward lead the new Avon group and […]