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 […]
“I’d Love To Learn More About Your Past, Present, and Future Projects”: Scams Continue To Plague Publishing
Last fall, in advance of the publication of my second novel, The Ten Year Affair, I began receiving a steady trickle of odd emails offering to help promote my book. The trickle soon became a deluge. Dozens and dozens of self-described marketing experts and people running book clubs reaching out, praising my book woodenly in obvious AI syntax, and then soliciting a fee for services. “I recently came across your upcoming novel, The Ten Year Affair,” read a typical email, “and was instantly drawn to its clever, emotionally layered premise. The dual-timeline exploration of connection, choice, and fantasy feels deeply relatable […]
People 6/30
Reese Witherspoon’s July Pick
Supreme Court Justices Earn $2M From Books in 2025
According to annual financial disclosure forms, book publishers paid four Supreme Court justices more than $2.4 million in 2025. Ketanji Brown Jackson received more than $1.18 million from Penguin Random House for a “book advance.” Random House published her memoir Lovely One in September 2024, and issued a YA adaptation in January. She has been paid over $4.14 million in total by PRH. Penguin Random House paid Sonia Sotomayor $88,000 in royalties for Turning Pages and Just Ask! after her agent’s commission. In addition, she writes that “Penguin Random House has advised me that it spent $7473 to support the […]
New Books Publishing June 30
This week’s fiction releases include new novels by Paul Tremblay and Jenny Jackson, while nonfiction includes work by Dave Portnoy and Julia Angwin and Ami Fields-Meyer. 18 works of fiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-fiction-publishing-june-30 17 works of nonfiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-nonfiction-publishing-june-30 We consult a number of sources in compiling our weekly lists and PM members can see our lists for the coming months on Bookshop. Check out June‘s 145 fiction releases, 53 works of nonfiction, and 31 children’s titles, and July‘s 119 fiction releases, 30 works of nonfiction, and 25 children’s titles, and August‘s 105 fiction releases, 20 works […]