James Frey is co-writing a YA novel, I AN NUMBER FOUR, that is proposed as the first in six-book series. DreamWorks acquired film rights for “high-six figures” on Friday for director Michael Bay, first reported by the Hollywood Reporter. Publishing rights are on submission via agent Eric Simonoff at William Morris Entertainment. No one has officially confirmed Frey’s involvement, and in the submission Simonoff bills it as by an “unnamed New York Times best-selling author and a young up-and-coming writer.” One publishing executive told the NYT, “I think we’re all confused. I think we’re wondering, ‘Are you hiding it because […]
People
Stephanie MacLean has been promoted to literary agent at Trident Media Group, where she started in 2007 as Dan Strone’s assistant. She is specializing in romance, women’s fiction and YA. Dan Crissman has joined Hill & Wang, an imprint of FSG, as assistant editor. He was most recently at Wiley. Philomel Books editor at large Patricia Gauch will leave the company on September 30 to return to full-time writing and lecturing. She joined the imprint as editor-in-chief in 1985, and has edited three Caldecott winners in her career. Maria Gagliano has been promoted to editor for Perigee and Prentice Hall […]
Borders UK Moving Closer to Potential Sale
Retail Week reports that Borders UK, which had already appointed Clearwater Corporate Finance to “seek new funding”, has sent out an information memorandum to “selected private equity houses and trade buyers”. The opportunity may be there for Borders UK to broaden its scope, Retail Planet Analyst Paola Montealegre commented that the store’s potential plans “may not be enough to compete with new channels such as supermarkets and internet retailers.”Retail Week
New Ventures: Media Takeover Firm Launched by Publishing Veterans, Quartet Press Launches
Former Informa finance director Anthony Foye and former Taylor & Francis CEO David Smith have joined forces to form the Critical Information Group, “with the aim of acquiring business media companies worth up to 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion).” Smith and Foye said they would concentrate on B2B media businesses in Britain and overseas, with a focus on publishing and events. CIG raised 1.56 million pounds from nine British institutional investors (each will hold 5.3 percent of the company) in Thursday’s initial public offering, with a further 1.45 million invested by CIG’s directors.Reuters In other publishing venture news, Kassia Kroszer, […]
People and Awards
Trena Keating, who was an agent at Endeavor since last September (and editor-in-chief at Dutton prior to that) has established her own agency, Keating Literary. Peter Beren has been appointed acquisitions scout for Running Press, reporting to publisher Christopher Navratil. He will be looking for “high profile and breakout properties.” Globe Pequot Press president and publisher since 2006 Scott Watrous has resigned, PW reports. COO Jim Joseph has taken over on an interim basis. Todd Berman will join Random House Publisher Services in July 6 as director, client development. He was at Harvard Business Press, most recently as director of […]
More Questions for Ben Mezrich; More Answers from Chris Anderson
Brad Stone of the NYT read the galley for Ben Mezrich’s July release THE ACCIDENTAL BILLIONAIRES, about the founding of Facebook, “in two sittings.” While “Doubleday has classified the book as nonfiction, but it has a novelistic gloss that tries to compensate for the absence of comprehensive reporting.” (The paper notes that “Mezrich appears to have had access to only one primary source in Facebook’s complex founding story: Eduardo Saverin, one of the Harvard friends of Mark Zuckerberg, a founder of the site.) Doubleday publicist Todd Doughty apparently agrees, saying “this is not reportage. It is big juicy fun.” Mezrich’s […]