E! reports from “a source close to club DJ and Lohan pal Samantha Ronson” (yes, that apparently counts as a source in today’s world) that Ronson is “certainly telling friends she’s planning to write a book. It’s supposed to be about her, allegedly. But come on, you know Lindsay will be all over that book. She’s the only one people want to read about.” Press-shy father Michael Lohan tells them, “I’ve shut up about this long enough. She’s using my daughter. People never even knew who Samantha Ronson was until she met Lindsay. She was just some L.A. DJ. And […]
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A Note from the Substitute Chef
Sarah Weinman here, returning to Publishers Lunch for the next couple of weeks while the head chef is away. And since my own news-gathering skills may not pick up everything that merits inclusion, please send on tips, suggestions and comments until August 21 to marketplacetips@gmail.com.
Anti-Obama Book Wave Begins
As the AP reports, David Fredosso’s The Case Against Barack Obama has nearly 300,000 copies in print; Jerome Corsi’s The Obama Nation almost 375,000 copies in print so far; and Dick Morris’s Fleeced, released in June, has 210,000 copies in print after eight printings.USAT
Plus: Food & Wine to TIHE; Nelson Drops More Trade Shows; Rushie Op-Ed; Dying Reviews on PBS; NY Finds Christinans
* Food & Wine magazine’s book line will be distributed by Time Inc. Home Entertainment. * Don’t expect Thomas Nelson to change their policy about reducing trade show expenses any time soon. After bowing out of BEA and the annual CBA show, the company’s Spanish division Grupo Nelson announced that it will pull out of the Spanish Christian Book Fairs known as Expolit (Miami) and Expo Cristiana (Mexico). Publisher Larry Downs says: “New market trends are forcing us to re-evaluate the expenditure of every marketing dollar; consequently, we have determined that, for Grupo Nelson, these trade shows provide very little […]
More Readings
* China is launching an American Idol-style literary competition, called The Next – A Search for the New Face of Chinese Literature. A judging panel of authors and critics will select the shortlist of 36 works from open submissions, and “Chinese netizens will be invited to comment on and vote for the works under consideration, until a final winner is chosen from four finalists in April 2009.” The winner gets a publishing contract, an advance worth about $14,600, “payment of outstanding college fees, with a guarantee of national media exposure and major marketing,” and other prizes. Established by Changjiang Art […]
Shorts: No Clifford for Your Party; Ulin on Review Errors
* So it has come to this. The owners of branded children’s characters are delighted to sell plates, napkins, decorations, favors and more for birthday parties, but don’t think you can have someone dressed up as that character attend the party. The WSJ reports: “In recent years, corporations that own the rights to some of the more popular characters, companies that include Marvel, Scholastic and HIT Entertainment, have sent cease-and-desist letters, threatened lawsuits and in some cases received settlements from companies that market unauthorized character impersonators. The threats rattle the costume industry.” At least Scholastic does provide costume rentals for […]