An assistant to the late Michael Crichton found a complete manuscript for PIRATE LATITUDES, an adventure story set in 17th century Jamaica about a plan by the Jamaican governor and a pirate named Hunter to raid a Spanish galleon, in his computer files. HarperCollins will publish that book on November 24. But the status of the thriller that Crichton was working on when he died (originally due to have been published at the end of last year, but postponed) is less clear. Neither his agent Lynn Nesbit nor editor Jonathan Burnham has seen that manuscript yet, but they are nonetheless […]
Author Solutions Buys Canada's Trafford
Author Solutions continues to roll up its rivals, now buying Canadian self-publisher Trafford Publishing. CEO Kevin Weiss tells the WSJ his company will have close to $100 million in sales in 2009. Trafford ceo Geoffrey Reid, who will remain in that position, tells the paper, “We felt that Author Solutions was consolidating the market, and we wanted to be part of that.”WSJ
Nibbie Winners Include Obama
The British Book Award winners were announced last Friday night: Best Read: When Will There Be Good News, by Kate Atkinson Author of the Year: Aravind Adiga for The White TigerBiography: Dreams From My Father, by Barack ObamaCrime Thriller: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg LarssonPopular Fiction: Devil May Care, by Sebastian FaulksNon-Fiction: The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, by Kate SummerscaleNew Writer: Tom Rob Smith for Child 44 Children’s Book: Breaking Dawn, by Stephenie MeyerList In other awards, The International Association of Culinary Professionals’ cookbook honors were dominated by independent (and formerly independent) lines. Ten Speed Press received […]
Lucki to Step Down at HMH; Financier O'Callaghan Will Run Publisher
CEO of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Tony Lucki, 60, is retiring on April 15 according to an internal memo reported by the WSJ. Barry O’Callaghan, the 39-year-old genius who built the parent company with a mountain of over $7 billion debt will make himself ceo, while still running Education Media & Publishing Group. Lucki will keep his title as nonexecutive chairman of the publisher, and O’Callaghan says “he’s going to continue to be my publishing mentor.” “Our biggest challenge is the U.S. economy,” O’Callaghan tells the Journal. “Our biggest customers are the states of Florida and California, and we all know […]
May Indie Next List
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan BradleyBrooklyn by Colm ToibinThe Last Child: A Novel by John HartThe Selected Works of T.S. Spivet by Reif LarsenThe Whole Five Feet: What the Great Books Taught Me About Life, Death, and Pretty Much Everything Else by Christopher R. BehaWoodsburner: A Novel by John PipkinSecret Son: A Novel by Laila LalamiDark Places: A Novel by Gillian FlynnThe Wildwater Walking Club: A Novel by Claire Cook Sag Harbor: A Novel by Colson WhiteheadValeria’s Last Stand: A Novel by Marc FittenOn the Divinity of Second Chances: A […]
People
Denise Oswald will take over as editorial director of Soft Skull Press and senior editor at Counterpoint on April 20, filling the slot vacated by Richard Nash. Most recently she was senior editor at Farrar, Straus. Bowker ceo Annie Callahan will now also serve as coo of ProQuest. Both units are owned by Cambridge Information Group. At Riverhead, Sarah Bowlin has been promoted to assistant editor.