Atlas’ New World, CDS’s New Services Atlas Books is expanding their world beyond their series co-venture approach to publishing (with co-published lines at both Harper and Norton) to a new publishing partnership with online magazine Slate, distributed by Perseus’s CDS. The line launches in June as Slate celebrates its tenth anniversary with a compilation volume THE BEST OF SLATE, followed in the fall by Henry Blodget’s THE WALL STREET SELF-DEFENSE MANUAL: The Intelligent Laypersons Guide to Investing and BACKSTABBERS, CRAZED GENIUSES, ANIMALS WE HATE: Slate Writers Tell It Like It Is, a collection of the site’s “Assessment” columns. […]
Lunch Deluxe for Wednesday, April 26
GBL To Begin Talks on Taking Bertelsmann Public At the annual meeting of Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, Albert Frere announced that the company “has decided to exercise its right to request that Bertelsmann launch an initial public offering.” He added, “In accordance with our agreement, discussions with Bertelsmann on the IPO are expected to begin next month.” Guardian Passages Crown has revised and merged the two internal working documents cited exclusively here yesterday in a new numbered document that quotes 45 passages of varying lengths from Megan McCafferty’s novels accompanied by what are characterized as “alleged infringing passage(s) from Viswanathan’s novel.” […]
Lunch for Tuesday, April 25
Nice Girls Don’t Copy Author Kaavya Viswanathan had this to say in a statement from Little, Brown yesterday: “When I was in high school, I read and loved two wonderful novels by Megan McCafferty, Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings, which spoke to me in a way few other books did. Recently, I was very surprised and upset to learn that there are similarities between some passages in my novel, How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life, and passages in these books. “While the central stories of my book and hers are completely different, I wasn’t aware […]
Lunch for Monday, April 24
How Opal Mehta’s Author Got Accused of Plagiarism The Harvard Crimson says that sophomore Kaavya Viswanathan’s novel How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life “contains several passages that are strikingly similar to two books by Megan F. McCafferty — the 2001 novel Sloppy Firsts and the 2003 novel Second Helpings.” McCafferty’s agent Joanna Pulcini says she first learned of the similarities in an e-mail from a fan. Viswanathan told the paper, “No comment. I have no idea what you are talking about.” Meanwhile, Harvard professor Werner Sollors provides the au courant academic euphemism, saying “some strong […]
Lunch Weekly for Monday, April 24
Monday, April 24 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 time […]
Lunch for Friday, April 21
Today’s Personnel News Following Scott Watrous’ departure for Globe Pequot Press, Adams Media has announced a number of management changes. An “executive team” has been formed to lead the company, comprising Gary Krebs, now named publisher, along with director of marketing and design Karen Cooper and executive director of sales Jeanne Emanuel. No New Brown this Year You already knew this, but managing director of Transworld in the UK Larry Finlay confirmed for the trade that Dan Brown’s next novel will not be on its way to bookstores any time this year. “I think and hope it’s going to appear […]