Publishers Lunch

Carter Courts Controversy Today’s book newsmaker is former president Jimmy Carter, whose PALESTINE: Peace Not Apartheid “strongly criticizes Israel and the United States for blocking serious peace initiatives and exacerbating terrorism in the Middle East” as the LAT puts it. Carter tells the paper, “This is a subject which, in my mind, has rarely if ever been honestly debated or discussed in the United States.” LAT Sentenced Martha Ivery was recently sentenced to 65 months in prison, Victoria Strauss reports on her blog, after pleading guilty a year ago to 15 counts of mail fraud “in connection with taking money […]

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 to put them all together. “nice deal” $1 – $49,000 “very nice deal” $50,000 – $99,000 “good deal” $100,000 – $250,000 “significant deal” $251,000 – $499,000 “major deal” $500,000 and up FICTION Debut NY Giant star and two-time Super Bowl champion Mark Bavaro’s first novel, […]

Leno and NBC Sue Over Joke Books Jay Leno and NBC Studios, joined by comedians including Rita Rudner, filed suit in federal court in LA on Wednesday against author Judy Brown and publishers said to include Andrews McMeel and Sterling for 19 joke collections of hers. The suit claims the books comprise “substantial amounts of published comedic material that is wholly original with [the] plaintiffs.” The filing also asserts that Brown “apparently covered the LA comedy scene as a journalist — thus she has stolen the jokes of the very comedians she was supposed to be writing about. Ms. Brown […]

Regan’s Regulars and More Confessions It’s already well-known that the man who actually wrote OJ Simpson’s alleged hypothetical confession Pablo Fenjves had a long-standing working relationship with Judith Regan, and now Lunch has discovered another player in the project as well. Contrary to previously published reports, “advance payments” for the project were not paid directly to Lorraine Brooke Associates, but rather went to Transactional Marketing Partners in Santa Monica, CA, care of company president Bret Saxon as agent for Lorraine Brooke Associates. HarperCollins disclosed this information to Denise Brown’s attorney Natasha Roit by e-mail last week. Roit mentioned Saxon and […]

Turner to Run New Sterling Imprint, and Other Personnel News Sterling announced yesterday the hiring of Carroll & Graf editor-in-chief Philip Turner, who will serve as editorial director of a new narrative nonfiction imprint, Union Square Press, starting in mid-January. Turner comments in the announcement, “This is a new direction for Sterling, and one that I’m confident will be a great complement to the superb publishing they’re already doing. Union Square Press titles will be imperative books, books that matter in people’s lives.” The line, which will incorporate Turner’s special focus on “truthtellers, whistleblowers, and muckrakers” that was the focus […]

Personnel News William Kiester has been named publisher of the Fair Winds Press and Quiver imprints of Quayside Publishing Group, starting in February 2007 in the Gloucester, MA office, reporting to Quayside CEO Ken Fund. At Chronicle, Liza Algar has been promoted to executive eirector of marketing and Sarah Williams has been promoted to executive director, new business development. At Abrams, Lisa Dolin has joined the company as executive director of special markets, reporting to sales and distribution svp Steve Tager. Most recently, she spent five years as director of special sales at Rodale. Canongate non-fiction editorial director Andy Miller […]