Book News, In Brief

HarperCollins seems to forget that they're not dealing with a Margaret Seltzer-style publishing wangsta here: Publisher sues Victoria Gotti over book advance. Um, this chick is fo' reals, yo. (Well, her husband is.) (Was.)

Hyperion today announced plans to publish the first adult novels by Cecily Von Ziegesar, New York Times bestselling author of the Gossip Girl series. I'll do the math for you: Hyperion is owned by Disney, who own ABC, who would love a Gossip Girl size hit show. (And no, "Gossip Girl size" is not a fat joke. Those girls are all anorexics, fer chrissakes.)

R.I.P. Jonathan Williams, unorthodox American poet, publisher, photographer - and disciple of Ezra Pound. For a fitting tribute, head over to the Guardian UK.

Book News, In Brief

Tikatok, an online children's book community, has announced that ten year old author Adora Svitak will join their new Children's Advisory Board. This is either a desperate attempt to grab headlines, or that Svitak chick is a helluva lot smarter than the ten year olds gnawing on the Bone books in our store.

On the other end of the 'Aw, isn't that cute?' spectrum, ninety one year old author Michael P. Verticchio is profiled in the Herald & Review. Verticchio is notable for his new book Family Love, and for the fact that he hadn't published anything until four years ago. I bet he hates kids like Adora Svitak.

Via The GuardianUK: Devil May Care, the new James Bond novel by Sebastian Faulks, has become Penguin UK's fastest selling hardback fiction title ever, with 44,093 copies sold in the four days. Does this mean that we'll all be dressing up as super agents for the midnight release of Faulks' inevitable follow up? I'd finally perfected my Hermione drag act, and now I've gotta come up with a Ms. Moneypenny routine?! Sheesh.

Media Bistro asked LA Times editor Russ Stanton: How many years will it be until there is no print edition of the L.A. Times? Stanton replied: One hundred twenty-six [laughs]. But, you know, somebody, somewhere soon is going to throw in the towel on print. For us, I think that for now, our core base of readers are the baby boomers, and I think that we've got at least another 35-year run in print.
To read the whole interview, click here.

It's Hard Out There For A Pimp Pub.(and a distributor, bookstore, etc.)

Tokyopop revamps, laying off 39 and cutting the number of titles they published in half.

Borders Group Inc. says it is cutting nearly 275 corporate positions as part of a plan announced last week by the nation's second-largest bookseller to reduce annual expenses by $120 million.

EDU, the American distributor for the Usborne children’s line, had a 7% decline in sales to chain stores.

Publishers Services International, a distributor of games, fiction, and graphic fiction to the book and hobby trades, filed suit last Friday against Roaring Studios, otherwise known as Dabel Brothers Publishing, alleging breach of contract and demanding payment of moneys owed, expenses, and other relief.

And While We're At The Pity Party...


Here's Adrian Tomine's (Optic Nerve) cover for the new New Yorker. Sad, but true.

Book News, In Brief

Eff your stupid promo bookmarks. This guy's found a flashier way to hype his book. Via UPI.com: A businessman in Indonesia said he let about $10,700 fall to the ground from an airplane Sunday as a publicity stunt for his latest book about marketing. Tung Desem Waringin, 42, let the money fly over the Indonesian city of Serang, about 40 miles west of Jakarta, CNN reported Sunday. The money-drop was aimed at creating a buzz about Waringin's latest book Marketing Revolution.

You know the book industry is doing wrong by its readers when an author makes headlines simply for writing about "difficult, real issues." Click here to "keep it real" with author Marilyn Reynolds and The Pantagraph.com.

Ah, the Kindle. To paraphrase Ice Cube, it's the e-book you love to hate. Via The NYTimes: Excitement about the Kindle...worries some publishing executives, who fear Amazon’s still-growing power as a bookseller. Those executives note that Amazon currently sells most of its Kindle books to customers for a price well below what it pays publishers, and they anticipate that it will not be long before Amazon begins using the Kindle’s popularity as a lever to demand that publishers cut prices.

Nerd game! The Star Tribune tackles common writing mistakes, turning the article itself into one big quiz.

BookExpo America is this country's largest, most blogged about book trade show. Too bad it's not living up to its own hype. Via The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: It's too early to sum up the country's largest book trade show, wrapping up Sunday in sunny, cool Los Angeles, but the purely anecdotal report is: There's nothing to get excited about this year.