Waterstone’s will take over eight Books Etc stores in the London region after striking a deal with Borders, Books Etc’s parent company. The stores’ leases will be transferred from Books Etc to Waterstone’s, which has paid nothing for the sites. The branches that will be transferred are Fleet Street, London Wall, Holborn, Wandsworth, Uxbridge, Finchley and two sites in Canary Wharf.Bookseller
Craigslist Ad Solicits Fake Author Autographs
A recent ad on Craigslist is soliciting people to sign copies of a newly released book on behalf of two authors who wish to remain anonymous. These “ghost signings” might net up to 14 lucky people $25 per 200 books signed, which has Gawker wondering: “with all the celebrity titles in circulation, this surely can’t be a brand-new phenomenon, but has anyone ever been quite so cheap and brazen about it?” Gawker
Announcements
In McGraw-Hill’s Business editorial group, Donya Dickerson has been promoted to senior editor. She was an editor. At Simon & Schuster Children’s, Craig Mandeville has been promoted to Vice President, General Manager for Adult and Children’s Publishing. Frank Totaro has been appointed to the position of Vice President, Deputy Publisher, Novelty and Licensed Publishing, effective immediately, and Alyson Grubard has been named Director of Licensing and Brand Management, reporting to Totaro. HarperFiction UK has promoted deputy publishing director Wayne Brookes to publishing director, reporting to Julia Wisdom, with Voyager’s Sarah Hodgson also moving up to deputy publishing director, reporting to […]
Awards
The Mercantile Library has selected FSG President Jonathan Galassi as the recipient of its 2008 Maxwell E. Perkins Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Field of Fiction The award will be presented at the Mercantile Library’s annual dinner on December 1. The inaugural Edwin Morgan International Poetry Competition’s £5,000 first prize was awarded to Kate Miller for her poem, After the Ban. Larry Doyle, Patricia Marx, and Simon Rich are the finalists for this year’s Thurber Prize for American Humor.
Amazon Exclusive on Obama Book Brings Repercussions
Chelsea Green’s plan to offer Robert Kuttner’s OABAMA’S CHALLENGE exclusively through Amazon for the first two weeks of publication, further driven by coupons for a 25-percent discount to be distributed at the Democratic convention, has backfired in a big way. Following expressions of concern and anger from independent booksellers–a group Chelsea Green has cultivated carefully in the past through such programs as their green partner stores–Barnes & Noble has substantially cut their order for the book. BN noted in a statement that “Chelsea Green Publishing has taken an unprecedented action to restrict the availability of Robert Kuttner’s ‘Obama’s Challenge’ by […]
New Woodward Announced
Simon & Schuster has announced the title of Bob Woodward’s new book: THE WAR WITHIN: A Secret White House History 2006-2008–along with the release date of September 8, in what they say will be a 900,000-copy first printing. In a statement editor Alice Mayhew says: “There has not been such an authoritative and intimate account of presidential decision making since the Nixon tapes and the Pentagon Papers. This is the declassification of what went on in secret, behind the scenes.” The Washington Post will excerpt the book on September 7, when the traditional Woodward 60 Minutes episode will air as […]