Publishers Lunch

Reshuffle Your Booker Deck The Booker Prize shortlist was announced earlier today, and as usual, the oddsmakers were wrong and all of the favorites — David Mitchell; Peter Carey; Andrew O’Hagan; Barry Unsworth; and Clare Messud — didn’t make it. The six finalists are Sarah Waters (The Night Watch), Kiran Desai (The Inheritance of Loss), Kate Grenville (The Secret River), M J Hyland (Carry Me Down), Hisham Matar (In the Country of Men), and Edward St Aubyn (Mother’s Milk). BN Eyes Israel; Keillor to Become Bookseller Thus far, Barnes & Noble has eschewed international expansion as rival Borders has become […]

BN Recommends Barnes & Noble has launched a seasonal BN Recommends pick, selecting “one book we love — a book that we know is a riveting read and a work of extraordinary quality worthy of stimulating discussion.” Their first pick is Diane Setterfield’s THE THIRTEENTH TALE. Rapper to Return Advance Wu-Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah was ordered to repay a $50,000 advance to HarperCollins by a Manhattan judge. He never delivered the manuscript for his memoir, originally due to the publisher in January 2002. NYDN Why Look, “JT” Has A New Proposal Having elicited her moment of news for an […]

Good Start for Wiley Wiley reported strong earnings growth again in their fiscal first quarter, up 9 percent to $35 million, on total sales of $263 million, which were 11 percent higher than a year ago. US professional and trade sales were up 9 percent as well, to $86 million, “led by business and consumer cooking, professional education, the online advertising program and the sale of rights.” Worldwide professional and trade sales rose 14 percent. Release Amazon May Kindle Proprietary e-Reader Tech blog Engadget posted pictures and details taken from an FCC filing by Amazon for an e-reading device, with […]

Personnel News Carroll & Graf editor-in-chief Philip Turner will be starting an eponymous imprint at the house focused on books by “truth-tellers, whistleblowers, and muckrackers.” Noting that it’s possible some books already acquired will be put under the new banner, Turner says the new line will appear beginning in their next catalog cycle, for spring/summer 2007. He describes it as “a purpose-driven imprint, thematically propelled by these kinds of authors and books. By aggregating them together, I hope that we’ll achieve a greater mass, providing a bigger megaphone than ever before.” Turner also will acquire for Thunder’s Mouth Press, where […]

Monday, September 11   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 […]

Scholastic Withdraws 9/11 Tie-In Materials Scholastic has been snared in the controversy over ABC’s planned airing of the “docudrama” Path to 9/11. They announced yesterday that they are removing classroom guide materials posted on their web site, offered to 25,000 high school teachers, that were to accompany the show. Scholastic says they are creating a new discussion guide that “will focus more specifically on media literacy, critical thinking, and historical background” to take advantage of this “teachable moment.” (The moment may diminish, however, if ABC gives in to pressure to not air the show.) Release Penguin Defends Expensive Serial Penguin […]