Olympic all-around gymnastics gold medal winner Nastia Liukin is in conversations with two publishers via manager Evan Morgenstein at Premier Management Group (who also represented Dana Torres) with a deal expected to close soon. He tells the NY Post, “Nastia keeps a first-hand journal and has for years. She writes in it every single day.”NYP
Plus: Personnel, Announcements and More
At St. Martin’s, Rob Grom has been promoted to associate art director, as Jason Ramirez moves up to designer and Jeanette Levy is now associate designer for Griffin. Just Books bookstore is hosting a grand reopening and open house on Saturday, September 6 to celebrate its new ownership under Marion Holmes and remodeled store. Local authors with a book released in the past six months interested in participating can contact the store. Earlier this week the Langum Trust issued a statement criticizing Ballantine’s decision to postpone publication of Sherry Jones’s novel THE JEWEL OF MEDINA, saying the company’s “actions represent […]
Random Reports Weak First Half
Bertelsmann issued its report on financial results for the first half of the fiscal year, with Random House reporting its lowest recorded sales for the period in years at 766 million euros. That’s nearly an eight percent drop compared to last year, and below results for this period since 2004. Operating EBIT decline even more on a percentage basis, falling almost 30 percent to 31 million euros. The report cites “unfavorable currency exchange rates, a slowdown in consumer spending in some key markets, as well as such ongoing economic pressures as rising shipping and marketing costs.” The company says that […]
Calmer Heads on Borders' Prospects
After the stock market’s enthusiastic reception to Borders quarterly report showing a big sales drop and a continuing loss, analysts who cover the stock sobered up a bit. David Schick at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. kept his “hold” rating saying Borders “has yet to prove it can stabilize these metrics and the top-line, let alone grow.” But he did note, “with constant, and really mounting, pressure from online delivery, online e-books, and retail discounters, (Borders) clearly has a tough environment in which to turn around,” he said. “In a sense, that makes margin stabilization more impressive.” Goldman Sachs, which always […]
Author Says Cape Cod Murder Book Has Him in Trouble with Law
Author Peter Manso was indicted by a Barnstable County, MA grand jury last week on 12 charges related to gun possession, storage and permits. The most serious of the charges, felony possession of an assault weapon (an AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle found in his bedroom closet to be exact), carries a maximum sentence of 10 years. Police “say they responded to Mr. Manso’s home alarm system, entered the house and saw the loaded shotgun on a closet shelf. They obtained a warrant and returned to find the other guns.” But Manso calls it “complete lawlessness” and says that it’s payback […]
Samantha Ronson Proposal?
E! reports from “a source close to club DJ and Lohan pal Samantha Ronson” (yes, that apparently counts as a source in today’s world) that Ronson is “certainly telling friends she’s planning to write a book. It’s supposed to be about her, allegedly. But come on, you know Lindsay will be all over that book. She’s the only one people want to read about.” Press-shy father Michael Lohan tells them, “I’ve shut up about this long enough. She’s using my daughter. People never even knew who Samantha Ronson was until she met Lindsay. She was just some L.A. DJ. And […]