The latest Barnes & Noble Recommends selection is a children’s book for the first time: Gary D. Schmidt’s middle-grade novel OKAY FOR NOW. Clarion says they have a 150,000-copy first printing and a ten-city author tour planned. A further twist in the ongoing REDGroup Retail bankruptcy saga comes from the 25 Angus & Robertson franchise stores, who have been unhappy with how administrators Ferrier Hodgson have been handling matters. So much so that the stores have exercised their right to terminate on the basis of A&R’s “continued breach of the franchise agreement”, according to The Bookshop Bowral owner Marie Fitzpatrick, acting […]
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eNews: Harry Potter eBooks Now in Play; Europe’s Slow Start; and More
Last May JK Rowling‘s agents at the Christopher Little Agency upgraded their position on the possibility of Harry Potter ebooks from “monitoring” the field to “actively” evaluating and “”currently considering all the options and opportunities.” Now there is a fresh round of media attention as a spokeswoman for Rowling reiterates the same thing to the Daily Mail: “The ebook format is now something that is being actively considered.” Neil Blair from the Christopher Little Agency also stands on his previous remarks, saying “we are continuing with our evaluation of all options relating to Harry Potter ebooks.” The Daily Mail The […]
Briefs: Billy Joel Cancels Memoir; Open Road Projects $10M in Sales in 2011; and More
A little more than two months before HarperCollins was due to publish Billy Joel‘s memoir The Book of Joel, with a finished cover unveiled and a manuscript draft turned in, the book deal is off. “It took working on writing a book to make me realize that I’m not all that interested in talking about the past, and that the best expression of my life and its ups and downs has been and remains my music,” he said in a statement. Spokeswoman Tina Andreadis said that Joel’s memoir “was well into the editing process, but that Joel had not approved […]
Briefs: Controversy over The Pale King On-Sale Date; Details on Stephenie Meyer’s Next Novel; and More
Little, Brown made much hay of publishing David Foster Wallace‘s unfinished novel The Pale King on April 15, since that day is tax day (except this year it’s not, thanks to a tardy Congress) and the book features the day-to-day thoughts and deeds of IRS agents. But the book’s actual on-sale date was March 22, which is how Amazon, BN.com and other online retailers started shipping copies to customers – even though most independent bookstores weren’t selling the book yet or hadn’t even received copies, believing or having been told the book was embargoed. “I don’t really understand the confusion,” […]
Former White House Press Secretary Named Crown Forum Editorial Director; Other Press Bumps Up Author E-Royalties; and More
Former White House Press Secretary Dana Perino has been named editorial director of Crown Forum, where she will acquire and edit six to eight titles annually for the conservative imprint. Perino, who currently works as a communications strategist and Fox News contributor and helped devise the promotional strategy for George W. Bush’s Decision Points, will work out of Washington, DC. Crown has also promoted Sean Desmond to executive editor. Starting Friday, April 1, Other Press will increase its ebook royalty rates to 50 percent of net proceeds once an author’s advance has earned out, and to 30 percent before an […]
Former Washington Post Reporters Will Buy Politics & Prose
Nearly a year after announcing the store was for sale, Politics & Prose will be under the new ownership of former Washington Post reporters Bradley Graham and his wife Lissa Muscatine. Barbara Meade and David Cohen, the widower of Meade’s fellow owner Carla Cohen, chose the couple to buy the store after entertaining five or six bids and determining Graham and Muscatine were “uniquely qualified to extend the store’s reputation as a gathering place for ideas and civic discourse.” At a meeting with store staff, Graham said Politics & Prose has “a very special culture here, a culture we want […]