The simultaneous release of Stephenie Meyer’s BREAKING DAWN in a number of countries not only bumped up worldwide sales, but might bring release dates in India in line with global standards.The book was published there as a large-format trade paperback on August 14 – a full twelve days after its US release date – and has sold 23,000 copies to date. “We wanted this book early, but it did not happen, because India is not a fully mature market,” said Thomas Abraham, managing director of Hachette in India. A staggered release “ensures that publishers can split the market between formats […]
ZYZZYVA'S Improbable Success Story
A page one story in yesterday’s LA Times featured San Francisco literary magazine ZYZZYVA and its founder Howard Junker, who will retire as editor of the magazine at the end of 2009. Junker began the magazine in 1985 as “a redemptive gesture, something that I thought I could do and that I could admire. It was like a midlife crisis.” And even Junker is amazed at how the magazine has stayed afloat when the print run (2,500 copies) remained the same: “People give money to pay me. “They are kind enough and courageous enough and silly enough to say, ‘We […]
Fox's "Watchmen" Lawsuit Carries On
A judge has denied a Warner Bros. motion to dismiss 20th Century Fox’s lawsuit over Warners’ right to make a film based on the graphic novel “Watchmen” by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The ruling keeps alive the possibility Fox may share in the profits for the film, slated for release in March 2009, though the studio really wants the project to be cancelled outright. “When you have copyright infringement, there are some damages you never recover,” a source close to the litigation told Variety. At the heart of Fox’s suit, filed in February, is the contention that it never […]
Announcements
Anna Crowe has joined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt as a Senior Publicist. She was previously with Bantam Dell.
Braman to Holt
Marjorie Braman will take up the long-vacant post of editor-in-chief at Henry Holt, starting September 8. An executive editor at HarperCollins, she has been there fore 12 years. Holt president Dan Farley says in the announcement, “She is one of the leading editors in the industry and her excellent track record at Harper Collins is notable for her publishing of quality and commercial books at the same time that she has excelled as a partner for her authors and as a team player for her colleagues.” Braman says: “I hope I bring to Henry Holt, where there is a long […]
First Round Bidding for Reed Business
Reed Elsevier finally begins the bidding for the right to buy Reed Business Information (parent company of Publishers Weekly, Variety and many other publications) and, reports the Telegraph, up to a dozen offers have come in for the first round. Most of those believed to be vying for the whole division or for parts of RBI are private equity firms like TPG and DLJ Merchant Banking, Cinven and Candover, Bain, Apollo Management and Providence Equity Partners, while McGraw-Hill has teamed up with Advent and Quadrangle for a joint bid. The WSJ says that with “many of the 12 or so […]