After 19 years, Transitions Bookstore & Cafe in Chicago has shut its doors. Owners Gayle Seminara-Mandel and Howard Mandel told the Chicago Tribune that they decided to close because they could no longer pay rent and meet payroll. “The readers went away,” Seminara-Mandel said, as more and more customers came for the free WiFi and fewer for the books.Chicago Tribune
Persephone Books and Forgotten Women's Classics
At the Times of London, Amanda Craig profiles Persephone Books publisher Nicola Beauman: “There can be little doubt that Persephone, which reprints lost or forgotten women’s classics, has filled a gap left by the bigger Virago. Quieter, more interior and less obviously feminist than the latter, it celebrates its first decade as the champion of the kind of book trendy that literati like to dismiss as dull and domestic.”Times (London)
"Lost" Sir Walter Scott Works to Be Published
Even though Sir Walter Scott’s final two novels, The Siege Of Malta and the incomplete Bizarro, were kept under wraps by his family for fear of sullying his literary reputation (the author had suffered three strokes by then), University of Edinburgh Press has published them, corrected and in a single volume, leading to accusations of “grave robbing.” Paul Scott, who published a book based on Scott’s journals, was surprised to learn their wishes had been overturned, said: “Scott’s health deteriorated quite markedly and you can see that from his journal. It starts off as a very intelligent, very well written […]
New Editor for Star-Tribune
Laurie Hertzel introduces herself to readers as the new book editor at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: “My plan, over time, is to revamp these pages, giving them a slightly broader focus — not just book reviews of the most recent offerings, but an engaging weekly homage to the joy of reading. We’ll still run reviews, of course — here on Sunday, as well as every Monday and Wednesday inside Variety. But we’ll also run newsy columns, essays, book excerpts and tons of recommendations — many, I hope, from you. “I want to cover not only the newest and most interesting and […]
Lunch Weekly for Monday, August 18
Deal Reports Just e-mail to deals@PublishersMarketplace if you aren’t using the online form linked below. Report a deal using the online form The Key As usual, the handy key to our Lunch deal categories. While all reports are always welcome, those that include a category will generally receive a higher listing when it comes time to put them all together. “nice deal” $1 – $49,000 “very nice deal” $50,000 – $99,000 “good deal” $100,000 – $250,000 “significant deal” $251,000 – $499,000 “major deal” $500,000 and up FICTION Debut Jesse Bullington’s THE SAD TALE OF THE BROTHERS GROSSBART, about medieval […]
Obama Reply: Unfit for Publication
The Obama campaign has produced a forty-page reply to Jerome Corsi’s book in a PDF titled Unfit for Publication. Among other coverage, Timothy Noah looks at scholarly publisher Mary Matalin: “Simon & Schuster and the other big publishing houses have started conservative imprints, at arms’ length and with noses held, because they recognize them to be a gold mine…. But part of the deal, clearly, is that conservative imprints aren’t required to adhere to the same standards of truth as the grown-up divisions. If an Erwin Glikes or even an Adam Bellow is available to edit your conservative fall list, […]