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Turner’s Next Mort Janklow is auctioning Ted Turner’s memoir. As ever, the Post is bidding big. NYP Greenspan Picks Helper Alan Greenspan has chosen Fortune magazine editor-at-large Peter Petre as the collaborator for his book. Petre has also worked on books by General Norman Schwarzkopf and Thomas Watson Jr., both published in the early 90s. NYT Orange Looms The Orange Prize will be awarded later today. Zadie Smith is the bookie’s choice for ON BEAUTY (it’s her third time on the shortlist). Going by past results, as the favorite, she is the least likely person to actually win. Reuters Baldwin’s […]

Clustering Paperbacks This weekend the WSJ took up the theme of publishing novels as paperback originals — with a particular focus on authors who are writing multiple books that are released in quick succession. In the case of James Swain, he moved from hardcovers to mass market originals, with Deadman’s Poker and Deadman’s Bluff released just five weeks apart. (Though his next book, JACKPOT, for 2007, will be a hardcover.) Ballantine has pursued the same quick release strategy with original trilogies from Mariah Stewart and Naomi Novik recently, and Pocket published three books from Liz Carlyle with just four months […]

Monday, June 5 Our Usual Reminder If for some reason this has reached you even though you are not a paying member of PublishersMarketplace, please visit the link below to join us all the time for complete deal reports and more. Click to register http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/register.shtml Deal Reports Just e-mail to deals@PublishersMarketplace if you aren’t using the online form linked below. Report a deal using the online form The Key As usual, the handy key to our Lunch deal categories. While all reports are always welcome, those that include a category will generally receive a higher listing when it comes time […]

Basinger Tries to Stop Baldwin’s Book Kim Basinger has filed suit to try to block former husband Alec Baldwin’s forthcoming book sharing his divorce experiences A PROMISE TO OURSELVES. Basinger asserts that the book violates a court order preventing Baldwin from talking to the press about their divorce. Wire story New Book Sense The picks for July are posted. 1. BETWEEN, GEORGIA: A Novel, by Joshilyn Jackson TWO TIME, by Chris Knopf TOMORROW THEY WILL KISS: A Novel, by Eduardo Santiago THE DRESSMAKER: A Novel, by Elizabeth Birkelund Oberbeck ROCK OF AGES, by Howard Owen FIRMIN: Adventures of a Metropolitan […]

No Deal for Plame at Crown The NYT reports that Valerie Plame’s seven-figure deal with Crown will not be consummated following “a difference of opinion on some of the contract terms” according to spokesperson Tina Constable. Former CIA director George Tenet walked away from a multi-million dollar deal at Crown in early 2005 (and sold a book to Harper in early 2006), and Advance Magazine Group executive Steve Florio quietly dropped a six-figure deal made with Crown last summer. Plame is negotiating exclusively with underbidder Simon & Schuster now, and publisher David Rosenthal tells the paper, “We are optimistic about […]

Ottakar’s Accepts Low Bid Having rejected a bid thought to be around 285p a share a couple of weeks ago (when its stock was trading at about 330p), the desparate board of Ottakar’s has now accepted a bid of precisely 285p from HMV. Since rejecting the first bid, Ottakar’s stock had plunged, spurred by another bad earnings report, but was still at 287p yesterday before the offer was accepted. Worth just under 63 million pounds overall, the bid is about a third less than HMV was prepared to pay last September. As Publishing News notes, however, shareholders will have until […]