Dunham Book
Tops $3 Mil
The Daily Beast
Vignettes
from 26-year-old Lena Dunham’s life, also known as the book Not
That Kind of Girl, have reportedly hit $3.6 million. As a candidate
for voice of a generation, Dunham’s deal is expected to climb even higher.
Dunham’s hit HBO television show grabbed four Emmy nominations, despite
claims that it featured few strong minority characters—something she’s
said will be fixed in the next
season.
Terminated!
Despite
a massive publicity push, the action star's memoir failed to take off with
the public. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s big push for his new memoir, Total Recall, which included appearances on 60
Minutes andThe Daily Show on consecutive nights and a surprise pop-in visit
to a New York City bookstore, appears not to have paid off.
Nielsen Bookscan reports that the action star’s book, which debuted Oct.
1, sold 21,000 copies in its first week.
For comparison, No Easy Day, a Navy
SEAL’s account of the death of Osama Bin Laden, which was the biggest
nonfiction debut of the year, moved 254,000 copies its first week.
In
fiction, J.K. Rowling’s A Casual Vacancy sold
about 350,000 copies in six days.
Hollywood-related memoirs have gotten off to a slow start this fall.
The biggest hit so far appears to be Neil Young’s Waging Heavy Peace, which clocked sales of 27,000 copies in its
first two weeks.
Hollywood Reporter
Ten Ways To
Save Publishing
Amazon's
Jeff Bezos notwithstanding, this year, on the face of things, it's been
business as usual at the
Frankfurt book fair, with some 7,500
exhibitors setting up shop in the gleaming white Messe. But scratch
beneath the surface and a tangible unease about the future of the industry
is evident: book sales are stagnating, profit margins are being squeezed
by higher discounts and falling prices, and the distribution of book
buyers is ever more polarised between record-shattering bestsellers and an
ocean of titles with tiny readerships. The mid-list, where the unknown
writer or new idea can spring to prominence, is progressively being
hollowed out. This is bad news not just for publishing but for the
culture at large.
It's time for a reformation in publishing, and the precepts set out below
provide a basis for the creation of a new, healthier book industry. They
echo another event that occurred during October in Germany, nearly half a
millennium ago: the nailing of Martin Luther's 95 theses to the doors of
Wittenberg cathedral. Luther was protesting against the idea that the
route to salvation could be secured by payments to those at the top of an
ecclesiastical hierarchy. The theses here should have been pinned to the
Amazon stand at Frankfurt.
1. Publish for readers, not authors. The
21st-century publishing environment has tipped the balance still further
towards the importance of the reader. The garrote that Amazon has
applied, using its market share to obtain ever higher discounts from
publishers that, in turn, allow price cuts that secure still more
customers, is possible because of the behemoth's direct relationship to
readers. To break this stranglehold, publishers must start selling
direct. The longer-term advantages of using their own customer databases
to sell at full price, rerouting the additional revenue into marketing,
will outweigh any initial discomfort about eschewing the services of the
world's largest booksellers.
2. Publish more selectively. In a
recent open letter to Amazon customers touting Kindle Direct Publishing
(through which authors sell their books directly to readers), founder Jeff
Bezos claimed that the programme produced "a more diverse book culture"
with "no expert gatekeepers saying, 'Sorry but that will never work.'"
Bezos evidently regards the function of publisher as obsolete. Publishers
will flourish when they are seen as discriminating arbiters of their
customers' tastes. Limiting the number of books published will assist in
emphasizing this vital role of gate-keeper. Publishing successive books by
the same author, or books grouped tightly by type or subject, will
underscore the publisher's authority as a curator.
Guardian
Zagat Recalls
2013 San Fran Guide
The
strange thing about this morning’s Zagat news is that it didn’t come from
a big announcement, or a planned reveal, as it has every year prior.
The 2013 Bay Area guides just happened to be on sale — and prominently
displayed in the window — at my local bookstore. The nice person at the
counter said the guides just came in yesterday. (How convenient.)
Following confirmation with Zagat, I figured that
the Google-owned incarnation was maybe doing things differently now. After
all, the cover is tweaked and there are shiny new Google Local ads on the
bottom of every page.
Turns out, if you want the first release of the 2013 Bay Area guide (and
the Zagat-Google union), you better act quickly. The versions currently in
Bay Area stores will soon disappear because they were never supposed to go
out in the first place. They were sent out too early, and as it turns out,
there is a significant, albeit somewhat sneaky, typo on the spine. Hey,
typos happen to everyone.
In
conclusion, Zagat is currently working to get these versions off shelves
ASAP. So you curious restaurant folks should get them while you can; these
collector’s items won’t last long.
The corrected versions will reappear in shops at an unspecified future
date.
Financier Leon Black's
Family Buys Phaidon
Founder
of private equity firm Apollo Leon D. Black has acquired Phaidon Press
from Richard Schlagman. Black explains in the announcement, "We have
greatly admired Phaidon and the important contribution the company has
made to art and culture. My family and I look forward to supporting the
future growth of the company, including through the ongoing development of
its publishing program, further geographic expansion, and the launch of
digital products."
Schlagman says in the announcement, "The profile of the ideal buyer in my
mind was exceeded in reality by Leon Black and his family. Self-evidently
possessed of immense business acumen, Leon Black is also a man with a
longstanding and deep appreciation for, and affinity with, art and
culture. From my vantage point, this is the perfect combination to
guarantee a great future for Phaidon. I am delighted to hand over this
precious baton to a family with such sensitivity towards Phaidon's
products."
He's Still
Alive??
City
Lights Bookstore co-founder Lawrence Ferlinghetti turned down the Janus
Pannonius International Poetry Prize from the Hungarian PEN Club upon
discovering the Hungarian government had provided much of the 50,000 euro
prize money. Ferlinghetti wrote in a letter saying there was "no
possibility of my accepting the prize in a ceremony in the United States
or elsewhere" because of wide reports of the Hungarian government
"officially and unofficially stifling free speech." He explained: "I am
sorry it has come to this, and I am grateful to those in Hungary who may
have had the purest motives in offering me the Prize."
Bits & Bytes
Find Thousands of Additional Sales and Contacts as an AmSAW PROFESSIONAL MEMBERS
Today
FICTION
Mystery/Crime
Crime novelist and show runner of the Showtime series, Nurse Jackie, Clyde
Phillips' UNTHINKABLE, FALL FROM GRACE, BLINDSIDED and SACRIFICE, to
Andrew Bartlett at Thomas & Mercer, in a significant deal, by Amy
Schiffman at IPG.
Sci-Fi/Fantasy
NYT bestselling author Alan Dean Foster's STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS, to
Gallery, for publication to coincide with the movie's May 2013 release.
Martha Wells's four untitled novellas set in the Books of the Raksura
series, to Jason Williams at Night Shade Books, by Jennifer Jackson at the
Donald Maass Literary Agency.
Thriller
Richard North Patterson's LOSS OF INNOCENCE, going deeper into the
background of the families and characters introduced in Fall from Grace,
and EDEN IN WINTER, moving again, to David North at Quercus, for
publication in the US and UK in fall 2013 and then in 2014, by Cullen
Stanley at Janklow & Nesbit (world English).
General/Other
Alex Cutter writing as Allen Wyler's CHANGES, to Ken Coffman at The
Armchair Adventurer, in a nice deal, for publication in April 2013.
Children's: Middle grade
Academy Award-winning actress Octavia Spencer's RANDI RHODES, NINJA
DETECTIVE: The Case of the Time-Capsule Bandit, about a Brooklyn vigilante
with a Tae Kwon Do black belt, but circumstances take a turn for the worse
when Randi's mother passes away and her father decides to move to the
sleepy town of Deer Creek, Tennessee; but a mystery arises, as the town's
two-hundred-year-old time capsule, rumored to contain hidden treasure,
inexplicably disappears and she must solve the case, as the town's fate
hangs in the balance, to Zareen Jaffery at Simon & Schuster Children's, in
a two-book deal, for publication in Fall 2013, by Andy McNichol at William
Morris Endeavor.
Children's: Picture book
Former assistant to legendary comics artist Will Eisner Robert Pizzo's THE
AMAZING ANIMAL ALPHABET OF TWENTY-SIX TONGUE TWISTERS, an alphabet book of
bold and colorful graphic art, to Katie Burke at Pomegranate, in a nice
deal, for publication in fall 2013, by Anna Olswanger at Liza Dawson
Associates (World).
aolswanger@lizadawsonassociates.com
Meg Fleming's debut I [HEART] YOU, a spare picture book text that brims
with heart and shows that "love" is the ultimate action verb, to Andrea
Welch at Beach Lane Books, by Emily van Beek at Folio Literary Management.
Piggie Pie creator Margie Palatini's NO NAP, YES NAP, a playful tug of war
between a sleep-resistant toddler and her sleep-deprived mommy,
illustrated by Every Friday illustrator Dan Yaccarino, to Liza Baker at
Little, Brown Children's, for publication in Spring 2014, by Linda Pratt
at Wernick & Pratt Agency for Palatini and Rebecca Sherman at Writers
House for Yaccarino (World).
Children's: Young Adult
Corinne Duyvis's debut OTHERBOUND, where a seventeen-year-old boy finds
that every time he closes his eyes, he is drawn into the body of a mute
servant girl from another world -- a world that is growing increasingly
more dangerous, and where many things are not as they seem, to Maggie
Lehrman at Abrams, by Ammi-Joan Paquette at Erin Murphy Literary Agency
(World English).
Cammie McGovern's AMY AND MATTHEW, pitched as a cross between WONDER and
THE FAULT IN OUR STARS, exploring the redemptive power of friendship, the
resilience of the human spirit and the way that love and understanding
ultimately sustain us, to Tara Weikum at Harper Children's, in a two-book
deal, by Eric Simonoff and Margaret Riley at William Morris Endeavor (NA).
NONFICTION
Cooking
Creator of food blog Macheesmo.com Nick Evans's untitled cookbook,
featuring hundreds of inventive and refreshing ways to use common
leftovers in new dishes, with photos, and based on author's self-published
book, CORNERSTONE COOKING, to Lara Asher at Lyons Press, for publication
in 2014, by David Dunton at Harvey Klinger (World).
Blogger of budgetbytes.blogspot.com Beth Moncel's THE BUDGET BYTES
COOKBOOK, simple, hearty, quick and satisfying REAL food -- not a can of
soup in sight! -- on a serious budget, to Gigi Campo at Avery, for
publication in Spring 2014, by Sharon Bowers at Miller Bowers Griffin
(World).
Health
NYT bestselling author of the New Glucose Revolution series Dr. Jennie
Brand-Miller with Drs. Kate Marsh and Robert Moses's THE LOW GI EATING
PLAN FOR AN OPTIMAL PREGANCY: The Authoritative Science-Based Nutrition
Guide for Mother and Baby, to Matthew Lore and Cara Bedick at The
Experiment, for publication in Spring 2013, by Fiona Hazard at Hachette
Australia (NA).
History/Politics/Current Affairs
Historian and University of Pittsburgh professor Marcus Rediker's OUTLAWS
OF THE ATLANTIC: Sailors, Pirates, and Rebels in the Age of Sail, which
will tell both the Atlantic and global histories of seafaring and slavery,
the rise of capitalism and the many challenges to it, not with a focus on
the "great" men of the era but rather on the common sailors, the
indentured servants and enslaved Africans, who were all central to the
role of the European sailing ship's transformation of the world, to
Gayatri Patnaik at Beacon Press, by Sandra Dijkstra of the Sandra Dijkstra
Literary Agency (NA).
How-To
Miniature gardening expert Janit Calvo's GARDENING IN MINIATURE: Create
Your Own Tiny Living World, a complete guide for getting started, with
advice on tools, materials, plants, maintenance, design and a series of
how-to projects, to Juree Sondker at Timber Press, for publication in July
2013, by Rita Rosenkranz at the Rita Rosenkranz Literary Agency.
Memoir
Kimberly Meyer's THE BOOK OF WANDERINGS, a narrative memoir, both
spiritual and historical, in which a mother and her daughter embark on a
quest to follow in the footsteps of a medieval pilgrim, Felix Fabri,
across the Mediterranean to Jerusalem and the Sinai Desert, to Cairo and
Alexandria in Egypt, to Judy Clain for Little, Brown, at auction, for
publication in fall 2014, by Wendy Sherman at Wendy Sherman Associates
(NA).
Go PRO for PENNIES
a Day!
