Publisher Whitens
Another Cover

Twice in one year, Bloomsbury has put a white model on the cover of a book about a dark-skinned girl.  Go figure.

by Kate Harding

Last summer, the publishing house Bloomsbury USA drew substantial criticism for featuring a white girl with long, straight hair on the cover of Australian author Justine Larbalestier's "Liar," a young adult novel about a girl whom the author describes as "black with nappy hair which she wears natural and short." At the time, Larbalestier blogged not only about her own disappointment but about similar examples of cover whitewashing, and the pervasive belief among publishing professionals that "black books don't sell" -an assumption apparently based on the premise that a "black cover" is the primary characteristic distinguishing such books from better selling titles. "Yet I have found few examples of books with a person of colour on the cover that have had the full weight of a publishing house behind them," said Larbalestier (adding in a footnote, "And most of those were written by white people"). "Until that happens more often we can't know if it's true that white people won't buy books about people of colour. All we can say is that poorly publicised books with 'black covers' don't sell. The same is usually true of poorly publicised books with 'white covers.'"

Eventually, after the blog-driven uproar grew loud enough, Bloomsbury changed the cover to better reflect the protagonist's appearance. "I hope that the debate that's arisen because of this cover will widen to encompass the whole industry," Larbalestier wrote, continuing:

I hope it gets every publishing house thinking about how incredibly important representation is and that they are in a position to break down these assumptions. Publishing companies can make change. I really hope that the outrage the US cover of "Liar" has generated will go a long way to bringing an end to white washing covers. Maybe even to publishing and promoting more writers of color.

Apparently, though, the kerfuffle didn't even get Bloomsbury thinking too hard. The same publisher has done it again, releasing Jaclyn Dolamore's "Magic Under Glass" -- the protagonist of which is clearly described as having brown skin -- with a young white woman on the cover. Bloomsbury's fear of losing the white market was evidently greater than their embarrassment over the "Liar" debacle -- unless, of course, what they chiefly learned from the "Liar" debacle is that you don't need to put as much money into publicizing a novel if its packaging is sufficiently controversial (in which case, you're welcome, jerks).

I'd put my money on the former, though. Larbalestier's cover was the first to gain significant attention for whitewashing, but it wasn't the first, and thanks to the enduring strength of the simplistic "covers with people of color don't sell" belief, no one should be surprised it wasn't the last. In an article on race in children's publishing, Mitali Perkins quotes Ursula Le Guin, who said at BookExpo America in 2004, "Even when [my characters] aren't white in the text, they are white on the cover. I know, you don't have to tell me about sales! I have fought many cover departments on this issue, and mostly lost. But please consider that 'what sells' or 'doesn't sell' can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. If black kids, Hispanics, Indians both Eastern and Western, don't buy fantasy -- which they mostly don't -- could it be because they never see themselves on the cover?" (Three years later, the advance reading copies of Le Guin's "Powers" were "released with a white model on the cover despite the protagonist's Himalayan ancestry.")

Salon

London Review of Books

Continues Running in Red

THE literary magazine, London Review of Books (LRB), has run up mountainous debts of £27m. The fortnightly, whose writers include Alan Bennett, Hilary Mantel and Hanif Kureishi, owes the money to the family trust of its long-standing editor, Mary-Kay Wilmers (pictured).

Wilmers, 71, is an heiress to a fortune made in the fur trade, originally by her Russian Jewish forebears before they moved in the 1930s to the United States. The family trust has allowed Wilmers to accumulate these huge debts, which can continue with “no intention of the lender seeking repayment of the loan in the near future”.

It means the LRB is being run as a philanthropic act, which enables it to attract big-name contributors, pay them handsomely and subsidise the cover price of £3.20.

Wilmers is notoriously wary about discussing the finances of the magazine, which she has edited since 1992. “Yes, it’s family money and the debts have been rising for many years,” she said. “But I really just look after the commas.”

The “pounds” are left to LRB’s publisher, Nicholas Spice, who also prepares the accounts. The latest, due to be filed this week to Companies House, are expected to show debts of £27m, up from £23.2m in the year to March 2008. They have been rising steadily over the past two decades. They were £3.2m in 1994, £8m by 2000 and £16m by 2005.

Times Online

Bill O'Reilly:

Killing Lincoln

The Fox News host and best-selling author is working on "Killing Lincoln," a history book that will take readers "into Ford's Theater and into the mind of Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth, and on the manhunt to find and bring to justice the killer of one our greatest presidents," according to a statement issued Thursday by Henry Holt and Company.

"Killing Lincoln" is scheduled to come out in the fall of 2011 and will be co-written by Martin Dugard, whose previous works include "The Training Ground," an account of the Mexican War and such future Civil War generals as Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee.

In a recent interview, O'Reilly said he got the idea after learning about Lafayette C. Baker, a 19th-century detective and spy who led the investigation into Lincoln's murder and helped track down Booth. Baker claimed later that he had possession of Booth's diary and that someone had "cut out eighteen leaves." Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, to whom Baker had turned over the diary, was accused of taking out the pages and was suspected of being involved in the assassination plot.

Yahoo

Anne Rice:

Vookability

Vook, the company that pioneered the integration of text and video into an innovative new multi-media experience, today announced a strategic publishing relationship with premier boutique literary agency Janklow & Nesbit Associates. Janklow & Nesbit also announced today plans for its first vook, a story from acclaimed author Anne Rice.

The relationship with Vook will offer Janklow & Nesbit's prestigious authors the opportunity to participate in cutting edge digital publishing. Vook's multi-media platform adds engaging new dimensions to the reading experience, blending them with video, images and animation. Readers will also have vastly increased access to their favorite authors' works, as vooks are available on the computer using the Vook Reader or on-the-go with an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch.

Earth Times

Kirkus Reviews

Dodges Ax

Good news for authors everywhere. The venerable Kirkus Reviews, the American book-review journal founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980), which was expected to close a few weeks ago, has received a new lease on life. According to a report in Daily Finance, the business has been sold to shopping-mall mogul and bookstore owner, Herb Simon. Simon is better known as the owner of the Indiana Pacers NBA franchise.

This marriage may seem unusual, but regardless, it's welcomed relief. Kirkus will keep its editors and maintain its bi-weekly publishing schedule. It plans to "beef up" its digital offerings--where there should be plenty of opportunities.

Kirkus Reviews is published on the first and fifteenth of each month. Reviews appear two to four months prior to a book's publication; the periodical features approximately 4,500 titles per year, which include fiction, mysteries, science fiction, fantasy, translations, nonfiction, and children's and young-adult (YA) books. Kirkus is the definitive pre-publication review source for the literary and film industries.

Elaine Szewczyk is the editor, handling fiction; Eric Liebetrau is the managing editor and nonfiction editor; Vicky Smith is the children's and YA editor; and Molly Brown is the senior editor in charge of Kirkus Supplements. Sales director Beth Werner handles all sales, advertising, and marketing efforts.

Dumas Novels Penned

By Ghostwriter

by Henry Samuel in Paris

Albert Finley, Michael York, Richard Chamberlain and Oliver Reed as the Four Musketeers

But a leading academic has cast doubt on how much of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo he actually penned. A new film will also suggest they were largely written by an unsung assistant.

The importance of the author's "nègre" – the French term for ghost writer – is explained by Claude Schopp, France's leading Dumas expert, in his Dictionary of Alexandre Dumas out next month.

He claims that Auguste Jules Maquet was the real "fourth musketeer", the man who actually came up with the plot for the trilogy featuring Porthos, Athos, Aramis. and d'Artagnan.

The relationship between Dumas, an ogre-like philanderer, and Maquet, a plain, family man is also the subject of L'Autre Dumas (The Other Dumas), a film starring Gérard Depardieu out on Wednesday in France.

In the 1830s, Maquet, a novelist and playwright, had tried to have his works published but was told: "You have written a masterpiece, but you're not a name and we only want names."

Another writer, Gérard de Nerval put him in touch with Dumas and asked the already famous author if he would rework one of Maquet's plays, which was subsequently published.

Soon afterwards, Dumas, a bon vivant who consistently spent more than he earned, fled his French creditors for Florence. There, he asked Maquis if he would let him publish one of his novels in serial form. Dumas renamed it Le Chevalier d'Harmental and it was published in 1841, signed only Alexandre Dumas.

Telegraph

Vampires with a Twist

Booktrade.com

HarperCollins Children's Books have secured UK rights in Claudia Gray's, Evernight. A three-book deal was acquired by Nick Lake, Editorial Director from Helen Boomer at HCUS. With global sales already reaching the half-million mark, Evernight is sure to be a UK hit and HarperCollins will fast-track publication for March 2010. This will be closely followed by book two, Stargazer, in May and book three, Hourglass in July.

A lonely girl, a beautiful boy and a load of terrifying vampires. Think you've seen it before? Well get ready for a shock, because this is paranormal romance with a twist... and a razor-sharp bite. In this brilliant take on the vampire love-story - shy teenage girl Bianca discovers that nothing at her new school is quite what it seems... and that includes herself.

Commenting on the deal, Nick Lake said "Paranormal romance is riding high right now but vampires are Darwinian too... only the strongest survive. Claudia Gray's Evernight series is one that will stand the test of time. It's huge in the US and rightly so - it's a fabulously immersive, involving story in the best teen tradition, and it has more than one shocking twist up its sleeve.

We're proud that with the acquisition of these books we now have two of the best authors in the genre, as Claudia Gray joins the brilliant Melissa Marr."

Silver Scribblers a

Growing Phenom

A survey of more than 1,100 people aged 60 and over in the UK, has revealed a generation of 'silver scribblers' keen to use their growing familiarity with the internet to publish their own creative writing, join book groups and research their family history and stories.

Independent research was conducted with 1,162 people aged 60 and over across the UK on behalf of Bookbite, a reading and creative writing project for the over 60s run by the reading charity Booktrust.

While younger users turn their back on traditional pastimes such as reading and creative writing in favour of using and playing on the computer; for older users, the internet is actually helping to re-invigorate a love of books and writing, with more than 31% of internet users in this age group keen to go online to publish short stories and join book clubs.

Spokespeople from the publishing industry have identified a marked shift in the age of authors either submitting or being published for the first time, with more and more approaches being made by those in their late 50s.

Booktrade

Bits & Bytes

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FICTION

Debut

Sam Hawken's NORTH PASS, about the femicides in Ciudad Juares where over 400 Mexican women have been murdered or gone missing since 1993, to Pete Ayrton of Serpent's Tail, by Svetlana Pironko of Author Rights Agency (World English).

svetlana@authorrightsagency.com

Thriller

Boyd Morrison's next two thrillers, to Louise Burke at Pocket, with Abby Zidle editing, by Irene Goodman of the Irene Goodman Agency (NA).

TEARS OF PEARL and upcoming DANGEROUS TO KNOW author Tasha Alexander's next two novels, featuring Lady Emily Hargreaves and her husband Colin, whose adventures take them to glamorous and exotic locales in the service of Queen Victoria's government, to Andrew Martin and Charles Spicer at Minotaur, by Anne Hawkins at John Hawkins & Associates (world).

ahawkins@jhalit.com

General/Other

Diane Noble's THE BRIDES OF GABRIEL, an historical series showcasing the lives of three women as they enter into a polygamous marriage under the new Mormon edit in the 1830's, to Cynthia DiTiberio at Harper One, in a two-book deal, for publication in July 2010, by Joel Kneedler at Alive Communications (World).

jkneedler@alivecom.com

Children's: Young Adult

Lisa Desrochers' debut PERSONAL DEMONS, about a good Catholic girl with a snarky streak who finds herself caught between an angel and a demon both fighting for her soul, and ultimately her heart, to Melissa Frain at Tor, in a three-book deal, at auction, for publication Fall 2010, by Suzie Townsend at FinePrint Literary Management (world English).

Translation: jacqueline@fineprintlit.com

Arlaina Tibensky's BELL JAR SUMMER, the story of a fifteen year-old, whose parents are splitting up, whose boyfriend is trying to wrestle her out of her pants at every opportunity, and who's suffering through late onset chicken pox while languishing in the Chicago suburbs with only an ancient IBM typewriter, her chain-smoking grandmother, and her beloved well-worn copy of Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar to console her, to Anica Rissi at Simon Pulse, in a pre-empt, by Brendan Deneen at FinePrint Literary Management.

Brendan@FineprintLit.com

NONFICTION

Advice/Relationships

Caryn Rivadeniera's GRUMBLE HALLELUJAH, engaging women in considering what loving life really looks like, while offering hope to those who've found themselves floored by disappointment, to Sarah Atkinson at Tyndale, for publication in September 2010, by Andrea Heinecke at Alive Communications (World).

aheinecke@alivecom.com

Health

Author of Head Cases: Stories of Brain Injury and Its Aftermath Michael Mason's THE HUMAN ASSEMBLY: The Discovery, Industry, and Future of Our Parts, Tissues and Organs, exploring the world of organ replacement and the practice of "hot-swapping" human parts; focusing on how we can have virtually any organ replaced, from our lungs to our face, and raises surreal and unsettling questions about who 'we' are and where our self identity actually resides, to Paul Elie at Farrar, Straus, for publication in 2011, by James Fitzgerald at James Fitzgerald Agency (World English).

james@jfitzagency.com

Renowned physician, board-certified psychiatrist and addiction expert and chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia Bankole Johnson's RECOVERY MYTH, revealing how specific medications for alcoholism are more effective than rehab and AA, to Katie McHugh at Perseus, by Philip Lief at Philip Lief Group (US).

pl@plg.us.com

Narrative

Terrie Williams's AN OCEAN APART, a distinguished marine biologist is handed a nearly impossible task: to heal a young, beloved Hawaiian monk seal and discover the clues that will save his entire species from extinction, to Jane Fleming at Penguin Press, for publication in 2012, by Noah Lukeman at Lukeman Literary Management (World).

True crime

Former assistant to Jimmy Carter and Zell Miller social historian Rick Hutto's A PECULIAR TRIBE OF PEOPLE: MURDER AND MADNESS IN THE HEART OF GEORGIA, the chronicle of a tenuous last link to a proud Southern aristocracy, and the murder of his wife, the secret of his love affair with his male black chauffeur, and his stunning pyric end, to Keith Wallman at Globe Pequot, for publication in Fall 2010, by Jason Allen Ashlock at Movable Type Literary Group.