June Issue
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BooksBeat
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Oprah To Re-launch Book Club
"I love this book," Winfrey wrote in the July issue of O, The Oprah Magazine. "I want to shout it from the mountaintop. I want to shout it from the Web. In fact, I love this book so much and want to talk about it so much, I knew I had to reinvent my book club." The issue includes an interview with Strayed and highlights the book club on the magazine cover.
WILD will now feature the familiar Oprah Book Club seal, but it and future selections will come with additional digital and social media features, including Twitter hashtags, Facebook discussions, and margin notes highlighting Winfrey's favorite passages in eBook editions of club selections.
Wimpy Kid, Superman Numbers
Hot Authors
Canteen magazine editors think it's about time authors were restored to "their rightful role as the public's de facto mouthpiece."
For its seventh and most recent issue, Canteen, founded in San Francisco but now based in New York, paired respected writers and photographers for a series of portraits, called Hot Authors, with a view toward re-glamorizing scribblers.
"What is it about being literary that has become so boring, so staid, so - dare we suggest it - dignified?" the editors ask the introduction to the Hot Authors issue. "Since when has being a writer meant moving beyond the fray of personality, celebrity and, well, nudity?"
"I think that a lot of writers, even if they don't necessarily want a glamour shot of themselves, connect with the idea that writing and marketing require ... not opposite, but different sensibilities," says Executive Editor Mia Lipman. "A lot of writers want to hole up and be in their own space - I think a lot of artists in general, not just writers - want that kind of solo, creative space, fairly inward, and the idea of going out and selling yourself is sort of the antithesis of that."
With the Hot Authors project, Canteen forces this issue on writers.
"We weren't trying to remind them of their appeal," Lipman, says, "but I think it was a reminder of the reality of the way writing interacts with the world and how that's changing." In other words: This is the culture, embrace it or fail to transform it.
"We found the writers who responded to Hot Authors were excited because they got to be recognized for their craft," Lipman continues, "but also (to) show themselves as personalities, and as people not just kind of holed away, typing, but with an actual need to present themselves more fully."
The general response to this initiative has been mixed, but most authors are behind it, as evident by Canteen's success in soliciting authors for the issue: "Usually we have about a 1-in-4 success rate," says Publisher Stephen Pierson. "For this Hot Authors, project we asked 18 writers and 16 of them said yes."
Since 2007, when it began as a series of literary dinners held at the San Francisco restaurant of the same name, Canteen has insisted "it's no longer enough just to experience the arts" and aims "to bring you closer to creativity and its results."
Print Books Not Quite Dead
More positively, the ABA also cited Nielsen BookScan data that indicates number of printed books sold by approximately 500 reporting indie stores rose by 13.4 percent (in units) this year, through mid-May.
As co-owner of the Regulator Bookshop in Durham, NC Tom Jackson notes, "It's down compared to five years ago, but it went down when the whole economy fell. It's since come back up and stayed up. Given what's been happening with digital books, the competition from Amazon and so forth, that seems pretty good."
Bowker's complete report on new books published during 2011 is embargoed until Tuesday, but at Sunday's self-publishing event at BEA Kelly Gallagher said they recorded ISBNs issued for 211,269 self-published titles in 2011, up from 133,036 titles in 2010. (Bear in mind that not all self-published books carry ISBNs, now including ebooks that are exclusively published through sites that don't use an ISBN for ebooks, such as Amazon.)
eBooks comprised 41 percent of the self-published books talled by Bowker, but Gallagher said they comprised only 11 percent of overall sales, reflecting the much lower average price of ebooks versus print-on-demand titles. Create Space was the biggest self-publisher by volume (by far), with 57,602 titles.
HBG Annouonces New Imprint
CEO David Young adds, "The creation of Redhook is an exciting opportunity for Hachette Book Group to grow our business and expand our touch points with consumers. As he has done so successfully with Orbit and Yen Press, Tim Holman will build a stellar commercial fiction list and will bring these books and authors to market in exciting and creative new ways." Bits & Bytes Get Thousands of Additional Listings for AmSAW PROFESSIONAL MEMBERS Today
FICTION Debut Michener Fellow and Pushcart Prize recipient Sarah Cornwell's WHAT I HAD BEFORE I HAD YOU, a novel about a mother's search for her missing child at the Jersey Shore, which triggers memories of the summer of 1987, when she spent her days looking for her dead twin sisters and struggling with her fiercely loving, secretive, psychic mother, to Maya Ziv at Harper, at auction, by Wendy Weil at Wendy Weil Agency (NA).
Stephanie Thornton's THE SECRET HISTORY, in which a theater tart-turned-Constantinople's premier courtesan must decide what's more important: pleasing the emperor who claims to love her or keeping the son he can never know about, to Ellen Edwards of NAL, at auction, in a three-book deal, for publication beginning in 2013, by Marlene Stringer of the Stringer Literary Agency (World English). Translation: stringerlit@comcast.net
Horror Bram Stoker Award-nominated author W. D. Gagliani's WOLF'S CUT, the 5th book in the Nick Lupo series of noir horror thrillers, in which a cop who is also an increasingly desperate werewolf discovers that an evil organization has infiltrated the Pentagon and organized crime is seeking to take over the tribal casino, so with time running out, he must figure out how to play the two against each other and survive the crossfire, to Don D'Auria at Samhain Publishing, by Louise Fury at L. Perkins Agency (World English).
Hunter Shea's SINISTER ENTITY, about a young, brash ghost hunter, who teams up with the ancestor of the world's greatest psychic-medium to confront a doppelganger that is terrorizing a New Hampshire teen, to Don D'Auria at Samhain Publishing, by Louise Fury at L. Perkins Agency (World English).
Sci-Fi/Fantasy Omaran Saga and Star Requiem author Adrian Cole's THE SHADOW ACADEMY, in which an enforcer dispatched to an academy in post-apocalyptic Grand Brittania is plunged into a cauldron of intrigue, subterfuge and menace, to Brian Hades of Edge Books, by Richard Curtis of Richard Curtis Associates (world English).
Thriller Whiting Award, Plimpton Prize, NEA grant winner, and author of THE WILDING and the forthcoming RED MOON, Benjamin Percy's THE DEAD LANDS, a post-apocalyptic reinvention of Lewis and Clark's epic journey across the West, again to Helen Atsma at Grand Central, in a major deal, by Katherine Fausset of Curtis Brown (world).
Women's/Romance Angi Morgan's PROTECTING THEIR CHILD, the story of a Texas Ranger willing to sacrifice everything to protect his estranged wife and unborn child, to Allison Lyons at Harlequin Intrigue, by Jill Marsal at the Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. Jill@MarsalLyonLiteraryAgency.com
Joy Daniels's REVVING HER UP, about a sexually frustrated lawyer who gets stuck in a small town where a hot stockcar mechanic introduces her to the temptation of speed with breakneck thrill-rides in, on and outside of the racecar, to Christa Desir at Samhain Publishing, for publication in January 2013, by Louise Fury at L. Perkins Agency (World English).
Children's: Middle grade Frances Sackett's debut, PETER LUBINSKY AND THE MAGICIAN'S DOG, in which the son of a deployed soldier adopts a talking dog who offers to teach him magic but only if he first helps rescue the dog's former master, an evil magician who might destroy him, and using magic may make him evil, too, to Sylvie Frank at Holiday House, by Sara Crowe at Harvey Klinger (NA).
Children's: Picture book Author/illustrator Andrew Prahin's debut THE LONELY HAT MAKER, about how making new doesn't mean replacing old when a best friend moves away, to David Gale at Simon & Schuster, by Paul Rodeen at Rodeen Literary Management (World).
Children's: Young Adult Amelia Kahaney's THE BROKENHEARTED, in which a wealthy ballerina living in a heightened, Gotham-like version of Chicago, has her heart broken - literally - and receives a dangerous bionic heart, transforming her into a superhero, to Sarah Landis at Harper Children's, in a good deal, in a two-book deal, for publication in Fall 2013, by Sara Shandler and Joelle Hobeika at Alloy Entertainment (World English).
NONFICTION Advice/Relationships Kate Northrup's MONEY, A Love Story, pitched as a spiritual version of The 4-Hour Workweek for women using their relationship with money to provide a roadmap to financial freedom, to Patty Gift at Hay House, by David Fugate at LaunchBooks Literary Agency.
Biography Historian Marc Leepson's FRANCIS SCOTT KEY, the first-ever in depth look at the controversial lawyer, Presidential confidante, and the unlikely author of the Star-Spangled Banner, to Laura Lancaster at Palgrave, for publication in July 2014, by Joseph Vallely at Flaming Star Literary Enterprises (NA).
Business/Investing/Finance Journalist Beth Macy's FACTORY MAN, the story of the last all-American Virginia furniture maker's fight to save hundreds of jobs, stand up to the manufacturing drain from Asia, and show the world the greatness of homegrown ingenuity and business, to John Parsley for Little, Brown, in a good deal, at auction, by Peter McGuigan at Foundry Literary + Media (NA). RIghts: sabou@foundndrymedia.com
Thirty-year veteran of the toy industry and content director for TimetoPlayMag.com Christopher Byrne's A PROFILE OF THE U.S. TOY INDUSTRY: Serious Fun, offering a business-oriented overview of the $22 billion U.S. toy industry and an inside look at the operations and practices of a fiercely competitive business that is often more art than science, to David Parker at Business Expert Press, for publication in Spring 2013, by Maryann Karinch at The Rudy Agency (World).
Cooking Author of LIVE RAW and PETA's "sexiest vegetarian over 50" Mimi Kirk's RAW FOOD AROUND THE WORLD, taking us on a raw food culinary experience through seven countries -- Italy, Spain, Greece, Thailand, India, Germany, and France; fresh ingredients, spices, and herbs typical of each country, along with step-by-step instructions will make it easy to create over 120 total recipes from starters to desserts, to Jennifer McCartney at Skyhorse, for publication in Spring 2013, by Kari Stuart at ICM (World). jmccartney@skyhorsepublishing.com
Health Journalist and geneticist Jo Marchant's HEAL THYSELF, a rigorous look at the new science of psychoneuroimmunology -- the mind's ability to ease pain, heal wounds, fend off infections and heart disease, even slow the progression of AIDS and some cancers -- drawing on cutting-edge research, personal stories, and case studies, from the foster kids in inner-city Atlanta who are learning to control stress (and improve their health), to Olympic athletes who are using visualization techniques to heal injuries, to Iraq war veterans who are recovering from devastating burns with snowman-inspired hypnosis, to Amanda Cook at Crown (NA) and Nick Davies at Canongate in the UK, by Karolina Sutton at Curtis Brown. Rights also to Atlas-Contact in the Netherlands, Mondadori in Italy, Rowohlt in Germany, Record in Brazil, Kodansha in Japan, and Kinneret in Israel. Foreign: Andrea@Canongate.co.uk
Humor Justin Valmassoi's ANIMALS TALKING IN ALL CAPS, featuring assorted members of the animal kingdom expressing their views on various topics such as bad dates, home décor, parenting, and nuclear fission, based on the Tumblr of the same name, to Julian Pavia at Crown Archetype, by Monika Verma at Levine Greenberg Literary Agency (World). Rights:lkaplan@randomhouse.com
Memoir Creator of the SLICE HARVESTER zines and blog Colin Hagendorf's untitled memoir about eating a cheese slice from every pizzeria in Manhattan while falling in love, getting sober, and becoming an internet phenomenon, to Sarah Knight at Simon & Schuster, in an exclusive submission, by Julia Masnik at Watkins Loomis (world). Foreign rights: lance.fitzgerald@simonandschuster.com Film/TV: Julia@watkinsloomis.com
Narrative Melissa Haynes's LEARNING TO PLAY WITH A LION'S TESTICLES, set in South Africa, the author volunteers at a game preserve after her mother's death and plunges into imminent danger, self-reflection, comical encounters with wildlife, and the euphoria of living life wholly, to Lynn Price at Behler, in a nice deal, for publication in Spring 2013, by Maryann Karinch at The Rudy Agency (World).
Pop Culture Journalist and author of Splitsider's "Nick of Time" column Mathew Klickstein's untitled oral history of Nickelodeon's golden age during the '80s and '90s, focusing on the many ways in which thenetwork transformed children's television, fostered the creative careers of scores of actors, writers and directors who gained renown there and in later ventures, and helped shape the childhood of a generation, to Kevin Doughten and Brittney Ross for Plume, by Janet Rosen at Sheree Bykofsky Associates (World).
Sports Baseball archaeologist Scott Simkus's OUTSIDER BASEBALL: Major League Talent Hidden Among the Outcasts, Fugitives, Refugees and Freaks, wherein the author reconstructs pre-1950s baseball history through primary sources and shows just how much talent was outside established baseball, to Yuval Taylor at Chicago Review Press, by Kate McKean at the Howard Morhaim Literary Agency (NA).
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