Breaking news on authors, publishers, and book-related topics

Publishing world shake-up

Apr 07 2008

Robert S. Miller, founder and president of Hyperion, announced on Thursday that he was leaving the company to head up a new imprint for HarperCollins. The new division will reportedly focus on publishing short, “popular-priced” books; pay authors low advances—or none at all—but share profits equally with them; and send releases to bookstores on a non-returnable basis.

Judith Regan files lawsuit against Harper Collins

Nov 14 2007

The New York Times reports that Judith Regan, has filed a 70-page lawsuit that seeks $100 million in damages for what she says was a campaign to smear and discredit her by her bosses at HarperCollins and its parent company, News Corporation, after her project to publish a book with O.J. Simpson was abandoned amid a storm of protest.

National Book Award Winners Announced

Nov 14 2007

The winners of the 2007 National Book Awards are:

• Fiction: Denis Johnson, Tree of Smoke (FSG)
• Nonfiction: Tim Weiner: Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA (Doubleday)
• Poetry: Robert Hass, Time and Materials (Ecco/HarperCollins)
  Young People's Literature: Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Little, Brown).

The winners were announced tonight, November 14, at the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. The annual awards are given by the National Book Foundation to recognize achievements in four categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young People's Literature. The night's ceremonies included the presentation of the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters to essayist Joan Didion and the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community to Terry Gross, host and executive producer of National Public Radio's Fresh Air.

Regan Books Offices to Close

Jan 18 2007

Effective March 1, HarperCollins is closing its Regan Books office in Los Angeles.
"We feel our authors will be best served by being integrated into HarperCollins," Michael Morrison, president and group publisher Harper/Morrow, said in a statement.

Harper Collins has announced that it will not publish the controversial book about Mickey Mantle, described as "an inventive memoir", that was scheduled for release by the now defunct Regan Books imprint.

Judith Regan, former publisher of Regan Books, the HarperCollins imprint responsible for a number of controversial but highly profitable titles such as three books about Scott Peterson, was dismissed shortly before Christmas following the furor over the planned memoir by O.J. Simpson, If I Did It, which was canceled shortly before release due to public outrage, with all copies destroyed.

Judith Regan Dismissed Over If I Did It Debacle

Jan 04 2007

Judith Regan, publisher of Regan Books, the HarperCollins imprint responsible for a number of controversial but highly profitable titles such as three books about Scott Peterson, was dismissed shortly before Christmas following the furor over the planned memoir by O.J. Simpson, If I Did It, which was canceled shortly before release, with all copies destroyed, due to public outrage.

HarperCollins report that the Regan Books imprint will continue but under new leadership and that changes in the name of the imprint will be "addressed at the appropriate time". Among the possible reasons for Regan's firing, other than the obvious recent fiasco regarding the O.J. book, were anti-Semitic comments that she allegedly made about some of her colleagues at HarperCollins during a discussion with an in-house lawyer about her latest project, a controversial "biographical novel" about Mickey Mantle.

Regan is apparently not taking things lying down. According to the Wall Street Journal, she has hired "well-known Hollywood litigator Bert Fields," who told the paper. "They've chosen war and they will get exactly that." Fields went on to say that HarperCollins was looking for an excuse to fire Regan and "smeared her with a charge of anti-Semitism. … Judith Regan doesn't have an anti-Semitic bone in her body."

In 2005 Vanity Fair described Regan as "quite possibly the most successful woman in publishing," as well as "the Angriest Woman in Media: tormented, and a tormentor." In taking on HarperCollins, she is also taking on Rupert Murdoch, whose media empire includes HarperCollins.

Google Claims Rights To Books Searching

Nov 12 2006

The battle over searching the entire text of books continues to hot up with Google issuing subpoenas to Amazon, the Association of American Publishers, Yahoo, Microsoft, Random House, HarperCollins and Holtzbrinck Publishers seeking details relating to each company's book search projects.  So far the AAP have objected saying that they couldn't supply documents related to what Google called the "Association of American Publishers Book Search Project" because "no such project exists."   Amazon have also objected on the basis that the information requested is "highly confidential, proprietary and constitutes trade secrets."  Responses from Microsoft, Yahoo and the three publishers have not yet been filed; replies are not due until late November.

D.E.A.R. day.

Apr 07 2006

April 12th is National Drop Everything and Read Day" in the USA, organized by Harper Collins and several other organizations, in honor of author Beverly Cleary's 90th birthday. The  initiative is meant to encourage families to enjoy books together. Cleary's character Ramona Quimby is the day's spokesperson because it was in Cleary's 1981 book, "Ramona Quimby, Age 8", that Ramona's school started having D.E.A.R. day.  Resources and ideas for celebrating the day, including a poster and reproducible handout, can be obtained by contacting HarperCollins

John Reynolds Gardiner Dies age 61.

Apr 07 2006

Author John Reynolds Gardiner died on March 4th, at the age of 61. He is best known for his 1980 novel Stone Fox(HarperCollins). He is also the author of  Top Secret (Little, Brown) and General Butterfingers (Houghton).