Death of “Little Prince” Author May Be Solved Author and fighter pilot de Antoine St.-Exupéry’s death has been shrouded in some mystery, but a new book published this week in France purports to solve it. A former German World War II fighter pilot claims in ST.-EXUPERY: THE LAST SECRET that he shot down the Little Prince author’s plane. However, Horst Rippert, 88, added that “if I had known it was Saint-Exupéry I would never have shot him down.” Telegraph NYT Public Editor Explains How Fake Memoir Fooled Paper Public Editor Clark Hoyt outlines how several key players at the paper, […]
Lunch Weekly for Monday, March 17
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 LAT Cairo Bureau Chief Jeffrey Fleishman’s PROMISED VIRGINS, a novel of […]
Lunch for Friday, March 14
Complete Commonwealth Regional Winners The regional winners of the 2008 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize were announced, with the overall winners to be selected on May 18: Africa Best Book: Karen King-Aribisala, The Hangman’s Game Best First Book: Sade Adeniran, Imagine This Canada and Caribbean Best Book: Lawrence Hill, The Book of Negroes Best First Book: CS Richardson, The End of the Alphabet Europe and South Asia Best Book: Indra Sinha, Animal’s People Best First Book: Tahmima Anam, A Golden Age South East Asia and South Pacific Best Book: Steven Carroll, The Time We Have Taken Best First Book: Karen Foxlee, The […]
Lunch for Thursday, March 13
Borders on ANZ Sales Borders CEO George Jones didn’t have a lot to say about the setback in their planned sale of stores in Australia and New Zealand but he did acknowledge the end of negotiations with A&R Whitcoulls, adding in a brief statement only that “we will continue to explore meaningful opportunities with the goal of reaching an agreement that meets our company’s objectives.” Lagardere Formalizes Results Following their preliminary report of fourth quarter and full-year sales a month ago, Lagardere issued their more extensive account of annual results, this time including earnings data. On the previously reported worlwide […]
Lunch for Wednesday, March 12
Bloomsbury USA Promotes Dickerman, Puts Charkin at Top Following the departure of Karen Rinaldi, Bloomsbury USA has announced the promotion of editorial director Colin Dickerman to publisher for adult trade books and he will report to Bloomsbury’s executive director Richard Charkin, who will serve as president for Bloomsbury USA (still based in the company’s London headquarters). Dickerman joined Bloomsbury USA in 2000, and his acquisitions have included books by Alan Hollinghurst, David Leavitt, Ben Schott, Chelsea Handler, Roz Chast, and Sloane Tanen. Additionally, Sabrina Farber adds the title of associate publisher for adult trade and Diana Blough adds the title […]
Lunch for Tuesday, March 11
Blackwell Powers Good Quarter at Wiley Wiley announced third quarter sales of $429 million, up sharply with the addition of Blackwell Publishing and still up 6 percent compared to a year ago even without Blackwell. They reported adjusted net income of $40 million, and adjusted earnings per share rose 7 percent for the quarter “excluding certain one-time tax benefits and Blackwell” and were well ahead of anaylsts’ expectations. Blackwell itself accounted for $115 million in sales and $16 million in operating income. Based on the strong quarter, the company increased its sales guidance for the fourth quarter by about $20 […]