John Hawkins, who owned and operated the literary agency John Hawkins & Associates, died November 13 at the age of 72. The cause of death was not immediately available. Hawkins joined Paul R. Reynolds Inc., established by his wife’s grandfather, in 1966, became president of the agency in 1980 and changed its name to John Hawkins & Associates in 1985. Among his current and former clients are James Clavell, Alex Haley, Gail Godwin, E. Lynn Harris, Thomas McGuane, Harry Crews and Joyce Carol Oates, who said in a statement that Hawkins “was a beloved friend to his writers, warmly sympathetic, […]
Hastings Losses Widen As It Ventures Into Digital Territory
Hastings Entertainment reported results for its third quarter early Monday morning and the losses continue to mount. The company reported a net loss of $5.5 million (or 65 cents a share), considerably larger than the $3.1 million loss reported a year ago. Overall book comps decreased 4.5 percent for the quarter, affected by “a weaker slate of titles released during the current quarter and the increasing popularity of e-readers” as well as increased promotional pricing. Unlike previous years, Hastings did not break out specific comps for new versus used book sales for the quarter. During the third quarter Hastings also […]
People, Etc.
Updating our National Book Awards coverage from Thursday, Bloomsbury upped its reprint order for fiction winner SALVAGE THE BONES by Jesmyn Ward to 50,000 copies, while Norton told us a reprint for nonfiction winner SWERVE by Stephen Greenblatt was “already underway” and will now comprise approximately 50,000 copies as well. The National Endowment for the Arts have awarded their 2012 literature fellowships in creative writing, with Eula Biss, Tayari Jones, Joseph O’Neill, Jennifer Haigh, and Benjamin Percy among the recipients of the $25,000 grants. Full list N+1 editor and novelist Keith Gessen was among those arrested as part of yesterday’s […]
Upgrade Boosts Barnes & Noble Again
At yesterday’s presentation at Liberty Media’s annual meeting, Barnes & Noble’s William Lynch basically repeated the market predictions and assessments that he’s been making to anyone who would listen. It was an afternoon upgrade from Stifel Niclaus that sent the company’s stock soaring again in early afternoon trading yesterday. Analyst David Schick is coming to believe the company’s contention that it is turning into a technology company, and he set a price target of $25 a share (or 50 percent above current levels). As we suggested earlier, Rakuten’s valuation of Kobo implies that Barnes & Noble’s Nook business should be […]
International: Ediciones B, Planeta Launch Digital Imprints; and More
Spanish publisher Ediciones B launched a new digital imprint, B de Books, where the house will publish e-originals and ebook editions of its trade titles DRM-free, some at prices that are aggressively low for the Spanish market. Patricia Cornwell’s THE SCARPETTA FACTOR was available at launch for €1.99, and John Locke’s LETHAL PEOPLE will be released in January at €2.99. Commenting on the decision to publish DRM-free, B de Books director Ernest Folch said DRM had become a “barrier to readers” and is ineffective, since “DRM-protected titles are pirated the minute they hit the market.” El Cultural (in Spanish) Meanwhile Planeta […]
Obreht and Otsuka Are Winners On Library Journal’s Top 10 List
Library Journal announced their top ten books of 2011, the consensus picks of their review editors. The list includes two of the NBA fiction finalists: Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty by Andrew Bolton and others (text) & Sølve Sundsbø (photogs.) (Metropolitan Museum of Art) Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War by Tony Horwitz (Holt) Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones (Algonquin) 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (Knopf) The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht (Random) The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka (Knopf) The Tragedy of Arthur by Arthur Phillips (Random) The Better Angels of Our Nature: […]