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 Tupelo Hassman’s GIRLCHILD, in which a young girl fights for survival against crippling […]

London Schedules and Reminders Next week we’ll be reporting live from the London Book Fair at PublishersMarketplace.com, and lunches will be dispatched regularly — though they could arrive anywhere from breakfast to tea time depending upon where you are (and how we’re holding up). As always, deals, jobs, and all other PM.com site functions will hum along smoothly. As noted earlier this week, if you’re at the fair, come by the Publishers Lunch “news desk” in the Rights Center to report deals, say hello, and with luck help yourself to an afternoon cookie. Perseus to Combine Sales Force with PGW; […]

End of the Morgan Road Broadway announced that they will “focus, going forward, on those imprints that most strongly reflect the diversity of our core publishing program, and will be discontinuing Morgan Road Books.” Publisher Amy Hertz and two other editorial staff members will leave the company shortly as a result. Executive director of publicity David Drake says, “Morgan Road Books was an experiment, one we tried very hard to make work, as did Amy and her team, but we concluded that it does not make business sense to continue with the imprint.” The line will have published 17 books […]

Prize Puzzle Practically every day we’re faced with deciding which of the multitude of prizes and awards to cover. PEN gets lots of coverage today for the latest new prize in their program to create new ways of honoring established writers who have already received lots of honors. This time it’s the inaugural PEN/Borders Literary Service Award — honoring “a truly distinguished American writer whose critically acclaimed work helps us to understand the human condition in original and powerful ways” — going to Gore Vidal. (Last week honored the even more overlooked Philip Roth.) In a similar vein, tomorrow look […]

Bertelsmann Buys the Rest of Bookspan In the purchase everyone’s been waiting for ever since Time Warner sold their trade book group, Bertelsmann has announced their purchase of Time’s 50 percent share in Bookspan. The book clubs will be integrated into BMG Columbia House, run by Stuart Goldfarb, and Bookspan chief executive Markus Wilhelm will leave the company. The purchase price was not disclosed, though the WSJ puts it at approximately $150 million. In exchange for a head’s up on the release, the Journal offers up naive praise of the book club business that would make you think it’s actually […]

Pat Conroy Novel On the Way Pat Conroy’s new novel, set in Charleston and nearly 700 pages, is close to completion. He tells the AP, “It drives me nuts. But long-windedness… there’s nothing you can do about it. I wanted to write a 250-page novel, but I realize I can’t even write a prologue that’s 250 pages.” The wire says the new book will be “a return to the same dysfunctional characters he’s known for.” It will be his first novel in over a decade. AP AMS Asks Court for More Time For reasons that may appear elusive now that […]