Next Monday, December 6, Jonathan Franzen will appear on the Oprah Winfrey Show–and the host will announce her new book club pick. It’s a big fat paperback from Penguin, with an unknown page count but a listed shipping weight of 1.9 pounds. The print book has a list price of $20, but the ebook currently has an agency price of only $7.99.
Archives for November 2010
People
Patricia Eisemann is joining Henry Holt as director of publicity on January 3, 2011. She was most recently assistant director, media relations and community affairs/corporate communications at The New York Times, after having been director of publicity at Scribner. Maggie Sivon has been promoted to deputy director of publicity. Counterpoint managing editor Laura Mazer will take on the additional role of executive editor for Soft Skull Press as well, managing acquisitions and operations for Soft Skull on top of her other responsibilities. Counterpoint’s Charlie Winton, Jack Shoemaker, Dan Smetanka, Julie Pinkerton and Roxanna Aliaga will all acquire for Soft Skull alongside […]
Press Drives Sales Burst for Dying Banker’s Self-Published Investment Guide
A Friday NYT piece covered a short self-published investment book from retired banker Gordon Murray, who is dying from glioblastoma. Murray wrote THE INVESTMENT ADVISER in a matter of months this summer with friend and financial adviser Daniel Goldie after being told he had just six more months to live. They self-published the book in August, and are distributing through Baker & Taylor. At first they gave the book away as a free PDF. The Times wrote: “It is plenty useful for anyone who isn’t already investing in a collection of index or similar funds and dutifully rebalancing every so […]
People, Etc.
Matthew Benjamin is moving to Touchstone on December 13 as senior editor, reporting to Trish Todd. He has been at HarperCollins, most recently as senior editor at William Morrow. At Touchstone, he will focus on acquiring men’s interest, celebrity, pop culture, sports, health, and investigative journalism. Allison Lorentzen is joining Penguin Books as editor. SHe was most recently an associate editor at HarperCollins. She will be acquiring both fiction and nonfiction titles, as well as working closely with Kathryn Court on Viking and Penguin acquisitions. The Lambda Literary Awards will be the new home for the Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists’ Prize, […]
S&S Press Release: “Simon & Schuster and God Ink Deal”
New York, N.Y., November 30, 2010 — It was announced today that the rights to a new memoir by God – Supreme Being, wellspring of existence, quintessence of glory, and source of everlasting life – have been acquired by Simon & Schuster. “We are pleased and honored to add the Lord Almighty to our list of notable authors,” said Executive Vice President and Publisher Jonathan Karp. The as-yet-untitled testament which Karp says he plans to publish in late 2011–in time for the busy pre-Armageddon retail season–will be semi-autobiographical in nature. Senior editor Sarah Knight says this time around God […]
The Barnes & Noble Paradox: Nook Sales, and Expenses, Continue to Grow As Book Sales Slide
Barnes & Noble reported second quarter results through the end of October this morning, with lower sales and bigger losses than analysts were expecting, even with promising execution of their growth strategies. While showing sales success in their digital and non-book business lines, the expenses of the company’s transition continue to weigh on their results. For the second time this year they increased their full-year loss projections, now saying that they will range from 75 cents to $1.15 a share, or 50 cents a share more than their last revised forecast in August. That news sent shares down sharply in […]