Tolkien Estate and Harper Sue New Line Cinema over Film Payment The Tolkien Trust, Tolkien’s heirs and Harper UK sued New Line Cinema in a Los Angeles court yesterday, alleging that they have not received any of the $6 billion in proceeds from the Lord of the Rings films. “The court action seeks, among other things, in excess of $150 million in compensatory damages from New Line, as well as punitive damages, and a declaration from the court that the plaintiffs have a right to terminate any further rights to the Tolkien works, including The Hobbit.” UK attorney Steven Maier […]
Lunch for Monday, February 11
enitiatives Abound The O’Reilly TOC conference begins in New York, swept in with the coldest winds yet this year and a wave of press releases announcing various electronic experiments. Perhaps the most interesting launch is the one without a press release at all so far: Tor Books is accepting e-mail sign-ups for a program that promises “free digital books from bestselling and award-winning SF and fantasy authors.… Once you register, you’ll receive our newsletter and a link to download a digital book. And you’ll receive a link to another new book every week. “The first week’s free book is Mistborn, […]
Lunch Weekly for Monday, February 11
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 Tanya Egan Gibson’s A BOOK FOR CARLEY, pitched as sharing the […]
Lunch for Friday, February 8
Good Quarter in US and UK Puts Lagardere Up Nicely for Year Lagardere’s book publishing unit reported full year sales of 2.13 billion euros, putting the group well ahead of Random House in total size going by Bertelsmann’s previous full year report, up 8.6 percent overall though a more modest 4.7 percent gain on a “like-for-like” basis — reflecting the incorporation of the former Time Warner Book Group for all four quarters for the first time. Per Lagardere’s standard practice, this preliminary report only tabulates sales, not income (which will appear in the fuller report issued the middle of March). […]
Lunch for Thursday, February 7
Reading Is Less Fundamental in Bush Budget CEO of Reading Is Fundamental Carol Rasco issued a statement warning that “President Bush’s proposed budget calling for the elimination of Reading Is Fundamental’s (RIF) Inexpensive Book Distribution program would be devastating to the 4.6 million children and their families who receive free books and reading encouragement from RIF programs.… Unless Congress reinstates $25.5 million in funding for this program, RIF would not be able to distribute 16 million books annually to the nation’s youngest and most at-risk children.” Release Andrew Franklin on Kate Jones Writing in the Independent, the head of Profile […]
Lunch for Wednesday, February 6
Modern Love Breeds Books Today’s Observer notes: “First-time authors looking for a book deal could do worse than to have a piece published in Modern Love, the New York Times Sunday Styles column that tends to provoke eye-rolling among the chattering classes — if they admit to reading the thing at all. But since it started, in 2004, with The Bastard on the Couch author Daniel Jones as its editor from his home in Northampton, Mass., no fewer than nine book contracts have been signed based on Modern Love columns, which, given the vagaries of the publishing industry, is a […]