Bankruptcy Battle Brews With Monday’s bankruptcy court hearing looming, questions and statements about the options available to PGW clients continue to intensify. Responding to advice from Avalon, Grove/Atlantic and New World Library, Perseus CEO David Steinberger says they are revising the portion of their offer today that requires publishers to stay with the distributor for four years after their contract anniversary date today to “give publishers an ability to exit [the new distribution agreement] earlier by paying back some of the costs that we’ve incurred.” The revised clause will apply to all publishers who have already signed agreements with Perseus. […]

Bankruptcy 102 PGW client publishers and those who love them remain understandably confused by the flurry of letters, motions and contracts with respect to offers from Perseus and NBN. In a letter announcing the NBN offer, PGW told clients they could sign both the Perseus and NBN agreements: “As the Bankruptcy Court has not yet approved any deal, you are free to enter into an agreement with NBN, even if you have done so with the other potential purchaser. The intent of the process is that the bankruptcy court will approve a transaction and the agreements with the ‘winning’ purchaser […]

NBN Trumps Perseus Offer The options for PGW clients got more interesting with an offer yesterday from National Book Network (NBN) to acquire distribution contracts of PGW publishers, promising to pay a higher portion of pre-petition debts than Perseus and asking for a standard (and thus shorter) contract renewal. A letter from NBN head Jed Lyons says, “With financial support from a major financial institution, Drawbridge Long Dated Value Advisors, we have proposed to acquire PGW by assuming its publisher contracts.… You will be paid .85 on the dollar for your claim against the bankrupt estate. You will be asked […]

The Rights Battle that Never Went Away Hachette Book Group’s hard line on English-language rights in continental Europe — in which Tim Hely Hutchinson has decreed that the UK division will export to the rest of Europe exclusively whenever an author is shared with the American lines — has drawn viral protest in a letter to the company from the managing director of Portugese distributor Lisa, Karl Heinz Petzler. Petzler declares that the decision “only shows that the people inside your group who made this decision… do not really care about their customers, but also do not care about their […]

AP Drops Review Package The Associated Press is ending the book review package provided to newspapers, Editor and Publisher reports. A spokesperson says the “AP is revamping its Lifestyles coverage to focus more resources on topics like food and parenting, and as a result we are discontinuing the book-review package that had moved through that department.” She adds that book coverage will continue through the Arts and Entertainment Department, though the emphasis appears to be on news and features. EP Also from the newspaper world, MARLEY AND ME author John Grogan announces in a farewell column that he’s leaving the […]

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 Tiffany Baker’s THE LITTLE GIANT OF ABERDEEN COUNTY, pitched as Wally Lamb […]