More Ruminations on Royalties Richard Charkin’s post on the possibility of moving to simplified royalties based on a publisher’s receipts has drawn a variety of comments from US agents, including Jeff Gerecke (reporting on an AAR committee investigation of the topic, and questioning the “transparency and auditability”); Andrew Zack (writing on the abuse of high-discount clauses, the complexity of discount schedules, and the possibility of a flat per-book royalties among other things); and Scott Hoffman (who “strongly supports a fully open and transparent move to a system that was based on actual amounts received by publishers” — while arguing for […]

“Running with Scissors” Suit Settled — Everybody Wins Augusten Burroughs and St. Martin’s have agreed to change a characterization of Running with Scissors in the front matter as “memoir” to call it just a “book” instead, as part of the settlement of a lawsuit filed by the Turcotte family. Burroughs will also alter the author’s note in the book to indicate: “I recognize that their memories of the events described in this book are different than my own. They are each fine, decent, and hard-working people. The book was not intended to hurt the family. Both my publisher and I […]

Clinton to Launch on Oprah Before Oprah Winfrey gets to the reissue of IF I DID IT she’ll start the post-Labor Day television season in a more noble vein with a program featuring former president Bill Clinton discussing his book GIVING: How Each of Us Can Change the World, airing on the day the book releases, September 4. (The book is said to include comments from Winfrey about her Angel Network and the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls.) Knopf spokesman Paul Bogaards says that the book is a compelling call to do something on behalf of others, saying “you […]

Quarto Buys MBI The Quarto Group has been aiming for another US acquisition for a while now, and yesterday they announced the purchase of St. Paul-based Motor Books International (MBI). Quarto’s Massachusetts-based Quayside Publishing Group, led by president and ceo Ken Fund, will oversee MBI’s operations, including the “core” imprints Motor Books, Voyageur Press and Zenith Press and the company’s distribution operation. MBI’s ceo Randy Roland “will leave the company to pursue new interests.” The purchase price was not disclosed, but Quarto says MBI’s sales are $35 million. The company issues over 200 new books a year, and has a […]

It’s Official: Summer is Over With Labor Day still a week away, the media has nonetheless given up on summer and moved into that transitional season formally known as “Fall Preview.” (Filing stories before the holiday often allows the reporters themselves to go on vacation.) NY Magazine’s Fall Preview issue mentions dozens of books, though the posted versions are strung out over 10 links (perhaps giving the impression of more verbiage than actually provided.) The primary recommended/featured books are: — Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, “worth the long, long wait.” (Separately, Amazon’s Brad Parsons recently dubbed […]

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 Mystery/Crime Colin Cotterill’s sixth and seventh “Dr. Siri” novels, featuring the septuagenarian […]