Riverhead Says No to Frey Page Six reports that Riverhead has decided not to go forward with their announced two-book deal with James Frey, confirmed by an unnamed “rep” for Frey. No official word from the publisher has been issued, nor have we heard any bulletins from Frey, his former agency Brillstein-Grey, or publisher of a Million Little Pieces Doubleday about plans for donating part of the Oprah windfall somewhere useful and noble — but there’s still a little more than a month to go before that seven-figure royalty check is issued. Page Six Preiss Companies Close The companies created […]

Hills to Retire, and More Personnel News Longtime editor Fred Hills will retire from his job at the Free Press in mid-April after a career of over 40 years in publishing (including 26 years at Simon & Schuster). His authors over the years have included Vladimir Nabokov (Look at the Harlequins), Raymond Carver (his first story collection, Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?), Daniel Yergin (The Prize), M. Scott Peck, and countless others. Free Press publisher Martha Levin comments in a memo, “We consider ourselves extremely fortunate to have worked with Fred. The breadth of his experience is such that […]

Nelson Approves Bid to Go Private Thomas Nelson will take itself private, with financing from private equity group InterMedia Partners VII, in a deal valuing the company at approximately $473 million. The per share offer is about 20 percent higher than the stock traded last week. If approved by shareholders, the sale is expected to close by June 30. CEO Michael Hyatt says in the announcement, “This transaction provides Thomas Nelson’s shareholders with outstanding value for their shares and a significant premium over recent trading prices. Going private at this time is also in the best interests of the Company’s […]

Monday, February 20 FICTION Debut Liz Moore’s THE WORDS OF EVERY SONG, A novel in linked stories set in New York’s music industry, to Kendra Harpster for Broadway, in a nice deal, by Nina Collins at Collins Literary (NA). Erika Mailman’s first novel HEXE, to Allison McCabe at Crown, for six figures, for publication in fall 2007, by Marly Rusoff at Marly Rusoff & Associates (NA). Jon Clinch’s first novel FINN, to Will Murphy at Random House, at auction, by Jeff Kleinman at Folio (NA). Horror Dallas G. Releford’s CICADA SUMMER, in which other creatures more deadly and larger invade […]

Personnel News At HarperCollins, Marion Maneker has been named vp, publisher of Collins Business. He is credited with “expanding the range of books the imprint publishes and substantially improving its financial performance.” Separately, Tracy von Straaten is the latest veteran Simon & Schuster executive to head elsewhere. She will join Scholastic at the end of March in the new position of vp, trade publicity, overseeing all publicity for Scholastic’s trade books, reporting to Trade Marketing vp Suzanne Murphy. Von Straaten has been executive director at Simon & Schuster Children’s. And elsewhere in the publicity world, David Moench will join Ballantine […]

Organizations Rally to Limit Trademark Expansion The Authors Guild has joined with a variety of other organizations (including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Library Association) in alerting members to the potential dangers of the Trademark Dilution Revision Act, which comes before a Senate sub-committee today for hearings. (The House has already passed the legislation last April.) Yet another step in corporate-friendly intellectual property law, the particular concern of the Guild is that the bill as currently written would weaken traditional protections for noncommercial and news reporting usage of trademarks. In other words, simply mentioning trademarks in the text […]