Hot Blair and Frankfurt Dreams The selling of former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s memoir is just one of the many deals in progress making news as the industry readies itself for next week’s Frankfurt Book Fair. Though Blair is said to have met with some publishers and discussions are actively underway with the major publishing groups that have strong US and UK divisions (and other US/UK alliances), participants in the process do not expect a deal to close any time soon, and certainly not until after the book fair. A world English sale is considered a given at this point, […]

Krakauer Sues Houghton Over Permissions Violation Jon Krakauer filed suit in Denver on October 1 against Houghton Mifflin and RR Donnelly for making over 1.2 million allegedly “unauthorized and impermissible” reproductions of portions of his book INTO THIN AIR in a textbook. Bloomberg reports Krakauer says Houghton “bought a license to print no more than 40,000 copies of an excerpt for use in the ninth-grade schoolbook The Language of Literature and exceeding that limit violated his copyright.” Bloomberg Bookworld Closes Florida-based distributor Bookworld has gone out of business. A local paper reports: “Founder Ronald Ted Smith said that in the […]

Doubleday Forms Single Religious Group Doubleday is bringing together their own longstanding religious publishing line with the WaterBrook Multnomah division to form a single division known as the Doubleday Religious Publshing Group. WaterBrook’s Steve Cobb will run the division as president and publisher, still based in Colorado Springs, reporting to Doubleday Broadway deputy publisher Michael Palgon. Doubleday Broadway director of business operations Kevin Tobin will add responsibilities as director, Doubleday Religion, also reporting to Palgon. Doubleday Religion will remain as an imprint of the new division, and its editor-in-chief Trace Murphy will report to Tobin, along with editor Andrew Corbin. […]

Harper Gets Film Partner HarperCollins announced a “multi-year” strategic partnership with Jeff Sharper’s NY film production company Sharp Independent “to collaborate on the development and production of motion pictures” based on Harper titles. Called Sharp Independent at HarperCollins, the venture will based in Harper’s offices, under the direction of Michael Morrison. They will seek to acquire film rights for select books “from future, current and existing backlist adult titles.” Morrison comments, “Jeff is a talented and experienced producer with an excellent track record of adapting literature to film. His presence is sure to give our authors additional exposure in an […]

BBC Buys Lonely Planet Lonely Planet founders Tony Wheeler and Maureen Wheeler, along with shareholder John Singleton, have sold a controlling 75 percent share in the company to BBC Worldwide, with the Wheelers retaining a 25 percent interest. BBC ceo John Smith says in the announcement, “This deal fits well with our strategy to create one of the world’s leading content businesses, to grow our portfolio of content brands online and to increase our operations in Australia and America.” The Wheelers comment, “Joining BBC Worldwide allows us to secure the long-term future of our company within a globally recognized media […]

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 John Pipkin’s WOODSBURNER chronicles the lives of a lovesick Norwegian immigrant […]