Amazon Fools Them Again Wall Street was prepared for a lackluster Q1 earnings report from Amazon, and instead the e-tailer announced better than expected results, with sales of $3.02 billion, up 32 percent, and improved earnings of $145 million, up 38 percent from a year ago. International “media” sales of $1 billion (up 31 percent) have now finally surpassed US media sales of $990 million (up 21 percent), the culmination of a growing trend. Profits improved through a reduction in technology spending and a tax change. The company increased their guidance for the rest of the fiscal, now expecting sales […]

On Halberstam As you’ve probably read elsewhere, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and author David Halberstam, 73, was killed in a car crash in Menlo Park, CA. Wire NYT Knopf Books Another Clinton Bill Clinton’s publisher Knopf will also issue Carl Bernstein’s biography of Hillary Clinton, A WOMAN IN CHARGE, this June, with an announced 350,000-copy first printing. Chairman Sonny Mehta says in the announcement, “I believe his book will stand as the most detailed, comprehensive, and revealing account we have of a woman who helped define one presidency and may well step into another.” Spokesman Paul Bogaards tells the NYT that […]

Granta Picks New Editor; American Novelists Issue Lands Granta has selected Jason Cowley as the new editor of the magazine, taking over from Ian Jack in September. Cowley runs the Observer Sports Monthly, and was previously literary editor of the New Statesman for five years. He has also served as a Booker and Whitbread judge. He says, “My challenge is to ensure that it plays a major role in the culture at large while continuing to publish writing of the highest distinction and introducing new voices.” Meanwhile, though the Granta list of best young American novelists was announced a while […]

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 Rivka Galchen’s debut novel ATMOSPHERIC DISTURBANCES AND OTHER SAD METEOROLOGICAL PHENOMENA, about […]

Canceled Story Broadcast; Canceled Signing The BBC canceled a planned radio broadcast of Hanif Kureishi’s short story Weddings and Beheadings, “describing the work of a cameraman who films the executions of western captives in Iraq.” They have been airing readings of the nominees for the National Short Story prize. The service said “the timing would not be right” given reports of a possible kidnapping of a BBC Gaza correspondent. “An important criterion when deciding whether to transmit a particular story on a difficult subject is the timing of the transmission. We do not now feel that it would be right […]

Please Note This is a travel(ing) Lunch, composed in many different places, time zones and air spaces. Typos and oddities are bound to be found. AJC Book Editor Eliminated; Community Protest Begins As first reported on the NBCC blog, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution eliminated their book editor position in a recent reorganization, though Teresa Weaver was invited to apply for a job elsewhere at the newspaper. “It’s not clear what the fate of the book page will be — whether it’ll be reassigned to an existing editor, whether it will go entirely to wire copy, or whether it will be removed […]