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NEWS ABOUT: publishing

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Fifty Shades of Grey Makes History for Random House

Sold 70M copies last year, a record for publisher

(Newser) - Now we know why Random House gave every one of its employees a $5,000 bonus last year: The Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy by EL James sold more than 70 million copies in print, ebook, and audio formats, reports the Wall Street Journal . That makes it the fastest-selling series... More »

Publishers Howl as Amazon Seeks .Book Domain

Firm wants to snap up dozens of new names

(Newser) - A big expansion of Internet domain name suffixes is on the way and publishing industry groups are alarmed by Amazon.com's plans to get in on the action, the Wall Street Journal reports. The company is seeking to snap up names including ".book," ".author" and "... More »

Random House, Penguin to Merge

Some literary agents concerned

(Newser) - Random House, already the biggest consumer book publisher in the English-speaking world, will get even bigger next year after a planned merger with Penguin. The plans, rumored last week, were confirmed today by the media companies that own the two publishing divisions, Bertelsmann and Pearson. Bertelsmann, the Random House owner,... More »

Lena Dunham’s $3.7M Advance Is a Big Problem

In fact, it explains what's wrong with the publishing industry: Rob Spillman

(Newser) - Want to know what's wrong with the corporate publishing industry? Take a look at Lena Dunham's insane book deal , which Rob Spillman pegs at $3.7 million on Salon . Random House will need to sell at least 500,000 copies to break even, which Spillman thinks is a... More »

JK Rowling's New Book Tops Bestseller Charts

'Casual Vacancy' knocks '50 Shades' off top spot

(Newser) - JK Rowling has soared back to the top of the bestseller lists faster than a flying broomstick with her first book aimed at adults. Despite mixed reviews, The Casual Vacancy is at the top of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. In Britain, it outsold the second-place fiction... More »

Monica Lewinsky Hawking Secret New Book

Publishers forced to sign non-disclosure agreement to meet with her

(Newser) - Should Bill Clinton be worried? Monica Lewinsky has been shopping a new book, sources tell the New York Post , and it's so hush-hush that she's making publishers sign a non-disclosure agreement before she'll meet with them. "I'm sure every major publisher was interested in hearing... More »

New Conan Doyle Tale to Be Published: His Own

Diary from year spent at sea shows young writer at work

(Newser) - A 20-year-old runs away from his medical studies in Victorian Britain to spend a perilous year as a ship's doctor on an Arctic whaler. It may sound like a ripping yarn, but a previously unpublished book by Arthur Conan Doyle actually tells his own story. The British Library is... More »

News Corp Posts $1.6B Loss

UK scandal hits Murdoch firm's bottom line

(Newser) - Divorce doesn't come cheap: Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has posted a hefty quarterly loss of $1.6 billion, mainly because of its plans to split its profitable entertainment businesses from its ailing publishing arm . The company cut $2.8 billion from the value of its publishing businesses, with... More »

Alice Walker Blocks Israeli Edition of Color Purple

Author accuses Israel of persecuting Palestinians

(Newser) - Alice Walker is prohibiting an Israeli publisher from printing a new Hebrew-translated edition of her classic novel The Color People because, says Walker, "Israel is guilty of apartheid and persecution of the Palestinian people." Walker has been a vocal critic of Israeli policies, reports the Los Angeles Times ... More »

Is This the Most Depressing Book Deal Ever?

Venice Fulton scores 7 figures for dieting advice like: skip breakfast

(Newser) - Today, in the annals of careers you really should have chosen instead of the one you're doing right now: diet-book writer. Grand Central Publishing has announced that it has won the rights to Venice A. Fulton's Six Weeks to OMG. Fulton will apparently get "seven figures" for... More »

Amazon Now Moves to Slash E-Book Prices

But DoJ suit expected to be bad news for readers in long run

(Newser) - Just after the Department of Justice launched its antitrust lawsuit against Apple and five major publishers , Amazon announced plans to slash e-book prices. But while the move is expected to cut the prices of major titles from $14.99 to $9.99 or less, analysts believe the benefit to consumers... More »

PayPal Tells Publishers to Pull 'Obscene' E-Books

Remove controversial titles or else, booksellers told

(Newser) - PayPal is overstepping the bounds of its role as a payment processor by trying to ban e-books it deems obscene, publishers and free speech groups complain. At least three online publishers and booksellers received emails warning them that their accounts will be "limited" unless they pull titles "containing... More »

Barney Rosset, Censorship-Fighting Publisher, Dies

Grove Press founder championed Beat poets, Samuel Beckett, erotica

(Newser) - Barney Rosset, founder of the envelope-pushing, censorship-defying Grove Press, died at age 89 on Tuesday after a double-heart-valve replacement, the New York Times reports. The irascible Rosset once described his press as "a breach in the dam of American Puritanism," and it lived up to that name, publishing... More »

JK Rowling Lands Deal for New Adult Book

It will be 'very different' than Harry Potter

(Newser) - JK Rowling is back, but if you're hoping for more adventures starring a certain boy wizard—or anything along the lines of those books—you're out of luck. Little, Brown and Company announced today that it had acquired the rights to publish a new book by Rowling, but... More »

Amazon Yanks 5K E-Books in Contract Dispute

Publishers group says it was strong-armed to accept new terms

(Newser) - Amazon is playing hardball with a book distributor that refused to give it a bigger share of the pie. The company's Kindle store yanked some 5,000 e-books after Independent Publishers Group, which represents hundreds of independent publishers, refused the online giant's demands. "They decided they didn'... More »

iBooks Author 'Mind-Bogglingly Greedy, Evil'

But some defend license, saying critics miss point

(Newser) - Thinking of using Apple's handy new iBooks Author program to publish your brilliant opus? You might want to think again: Apple's incredibly restrictive iBookstore licensing agreement gives the computer giant a 30% cut of anything you make, even outside of the store. Further, the format isn't compatible... More »

Final Hitchens Book to Hit Shelves Next Year

Morality is based on cancer struggle

(Newser) - For fans of Christopher Hitchens , one final book. A memoir entitled Mortality will be released in early 2012; it's based on a series of articles the journalist wrote for Vanity Fair describing his battle with esophageal cancer, reports the Guardian . A spokesman noted that the book had been in... More »

E-Books Now Pricier Than Real Books

Publishers set own prices, and set them high

(Newser) - If you're hoping Santa drops a Kindle or Nook under your tree, be forewarned: e-book bestsellers don't cost $9.99 anymore. These days, electronic tomes can cost as much or more than their print counterparts, the Wall Street Journal reports, thanks to a move from the six top... More »

Brazenly Plagiarized Spy Novel Pulled

Author's debut was 'collage of others' work'

(Newser) - Bookseller Quentin Rowan appears to have forged a writing career entirely by raiding the contents of his shelves. Publisher Little, Brown & Co. recalled every single copy of his debut spy thriller, Assassin of Secrets—written under the pseudonym QR Markham—after discovering that passages had been lifted from more... More »

Dad Writing Winehouse Bio

Amy, My Daughter will tell singer's true story, Mitch Winehouse says

(Newser) - Mitch Winehouse is writing the story of his daughter's life, with all proceeds going to the charity set up in her name, the BBC reports. In Amy, My Daughter, to be published next summer, he will "bring the many layers of her life together—the personal, the private,... More »

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