New Publisher for AMP, and Other Personnel News Andrews McMeel has hired Kirsty Melville as publisher of the company’s book division, beginning in early September. After a long run as publisher at Ten Speed Press, Melville had been publisher at University Games since last year. Recently appointed president and COO of Andrews McMeel Hugh Andrews notes in a statement, “Kirsty brings with her a wealth of industry knowledge and experience as well as a contagiously charismatic nature. We are confident that under her leadership, AMP will continue to evolve and meet strategic planning goals in areas of acquisition, backlist support, […]

Family of Doctor Who Had Custody of Burroughs Sue over SCISSORS Six relatives of the late Dr. Rodolph H. Turcotte have sued author Augusten Burroughs, publisher St. Martin’s, and Burroughs’ agent (he’s represented by Christopher Schelling at Ralph Vicinanza, but Schelling isn’t named in this article) in a Middlesex, MA court, alleging that the family was easily recognized in the memoir RUNNING WITH SCISSORS, even though they were renamed the Finches. “The suit demands a public retraction of the book and a public statement that it is fiction and not a memoir. The suit also asks that the publisher be […]

Analysts Think A Takeover is Audible The iPod saved Audible.com and for now the company remains the top provider of digital audiobooks. But with NPR ending a six-year relationship with the company, Amazon’s decision to sell their own digital audio product instead of directing customers to Audible, and audio ventures from other major Internet companies, at least some stock analysts think the company doesn’t have the money or scale to fend off growing competition and expect it to be sold to a larger player. AP report Court Appoints Cedco Receiver, But Fate is Still Unclear There’s more on the strange […]

More on CIA BookBreaker In court documents filed earlier this week by former CIA officer Gary Berntsen against the agency, he asserts that: “This case presents a threat to the vitality of First Amendment rights among former and current employees of the government arising from Defendant’s effective imposition of a prior restraint on publication.… Having absolutely no lawful authority to take these actions, the CIA endeavors to cloak its behavior as legitimate by hiding behind an unconstitutional interpretation of the secrecy agreement executed by Plaintiff, who is a former employee with the Agency. However, the ability of the government to […]

Anonymous former CIA Author Reveals Himself, As He Sues Agency Former CIA officer Gary Berntsen filed suit papers yesterday in Federal court (just after the court closed for the day) against the agency, claiming they are over-classifying material covered in his book manuscript about battles that Bernsten led in Afghanistan prior to Osama Bin Laden’s escape from Tora Bora. The 48-year-old Berntsen retired from the CIA in June and his book JAWBREAKER was due to be published in October. Up until now, Bernsten had only been identified as the pseudonymous Eric L. Bernsten’s attorney says they are suing under the […]

It’s All About the Expectations Sales were up 26 percent at Amazon for their second quarter, to $1.75 billion, but net income dropped to $52 million from $76 million a year ago. But the fall in profits was better than Wall Street expected and was due mostly to income tax changes, so shares were bid up again. Gross profit, one of Amazon’s many favored measures of performance, was up 32% to $450 million, which company CFO Tom Szkutak said was driven by third-party sales through the site — which now comprise 28 percent of all unit sales. They still don’t […]