Starbucks Brews Albom Deal The book portion of Starbucks’ new plan to promote (and possibly at some point develop) books and other entertainment products will launch this fall with a program highlighting Mitch Albom and his new novel FOR ONE MORE DAY. Books will be offered for sale in approximately 5,400 Starbucks locations nationwide both at point-of-sale and on in-store tables for at least a six to eight-week window starting October 3, one week after Hyperion’s laydown. Mitch Albom will visit a Starbucks store in eight cities, and on October 26 the coffee chain will organize Book Break discussion sessions […]

AMS Ready to Settle Civil Suits Advanced Marketing Services announced this morning that the company has gotten preliminary approval from a District Court for a proposed settlement of the class action suit filed by shareholders in the wake of the two government investigations of illegal advertising practices and the company’s related restatement of earnings in early 2004. The proposed cash settlement of $6.3 million (including attorneys’ fees) will be covered by insurance, and the lawyers will also get 75,000 shares of AMS stock. While the settlement, once approved, will clear all shareholder litigation against the company, it has no effect […]

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Posthumous Book Resurfaces at New Publisher Today’s NY Post looks at the posthumous publication of Jack Holland’s MISOGYNY: the World’s Oldest Prejudice, from Carroll & Graf. (Constable & Robinson just published in the UK, too, having paid a 3,000-pound advance.) Originally signed by Carole Desanti at Viking in late 2002, the book was cancelled by the publisher in 2004, shortly after the author died of cancer. Widow Mary Hudson is angry at Viking, and she isn’t too happy with the original agent, “Lisa Bancroft” (known to the rest of us as Lisa Bankoff) at ICM. An unidentified spokesperson at the […]

Random Announces Multnomah Buy Random House has completed the purchase of Oregon-based evangelical Christian book publisher Multnomah, which rose to prominence in the market on the strength of Bruce Wilkinson’s eight-million-copy seller THE PRAYER OF JABEZ. Multnomah will “be integrated operationally” with Doubleday Broadway’s WaterBrook Press in what will now be the WaterBrook Multnomah division, though each line will “maintain its distinct editorial identity.” The company will relocate to WaterBrook’s Colorado Springs offices. Multnomah founder and president Don Jacobson will serve as a consultant “during the transition and integration.” Waterbrook president and publisher Steve Cobb will remain in charge of […]

Improvement Continues at Indigo Canada’s dominant bookseller Indigo narrowed their quarterly net loss, down to $5.8 million (CA) from $8.1 million a year ago, as sales grew “across all Indigo channels” to $170 million, up 3.8 percent from a year ago. Same-store sales were up even more, by 4.5 percent, and online sales rose 7.2 percent to $16.3 million. Release Clients Flit Back to Clegg Since returning to work at the beginning of the year, as an agent at William Morris, Bill Clegg has reacquired many of his former clients (many of whom had not made new deals in the […]