Amazon Publishing Snubbed by Fellow Booksellers
Chain bookstores Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million and Chapters Indigo (Canada’s top bookseller) have announced that they will not carry titles published by any of Amazon’s publishing imprints. In an effort to expand its reach in the book market, Amazon has created seven imprints since 2009, including AmazonEncore, AmazonCrossing, Montlake Romance, Thomas & Mercer, 47North, and The Domino Project. The most recent imprint, New Harvest, was made through a deal with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, with the intention for HMH to serve as a front for Amazon. The titles printed would be from Amazon Publishing, but disguised with a New Harvest imprint on the cover. However, this plan backfired when Barnes and Noble stated that they would not carry books from any of Amazon’s imprints, citing “Amazon’s continued push for exclusivity with publishers, agents and the authors they represent” as the reason. Books-a-Million and Chapters Indigo soon followed with their own statements. Small bookstores could be next, as IndieCommerce, an e-commerce resource for independent booksellers, has removed all Amazon-published books from their database of titles.
Seven-Figure Debut Novel Sells to Riverhead Books
Anton DiSclafani, an English professor at Washington University, captured the publishing world’s attention earlier this month when her first novel was rumored to have sold for a seven-figure advance. Riverhead Books, a division of Penguin Group, acquired the rights for The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls at an auction. Yonahlossee is reportedly set in Depression-era North Carolina. The protagonist, teenager Thea Atwell, arrives at the riding camp after leaving her family in Florida amidst scandal. According to Publisher’s Weekly, the novel is drawing comparisons to Water for Elephants, which could predict bestseller success for DiSclafani.
Four-Book Series Will Reveal Author Lemony Snicket’s Past
Lemony Snicket, the mysterious author/narrator of the popular children’s series, A Series of Unfortunate Events, will be publishing four “autobiographies” beginning later this year. Snicket (the pen name of Daniel Handler) remained a shadowy figure in the Unfortunate Events series, which recounted the woeful tales of the Baudelaire orphans. His new series is called All the Wrong Questions, because, as Snicket explains, “These books are questionable and contain questions. I, for one, question why anyone would be interested in reading them.”
The first book, which chronicles Snicket’s early years, is entitled “Who Could That Be At This Hour?” It will be published on October 23rd of this year.
Notable New Releases for February
February promises two exciting first novels, as well as a shocking memoir. No One Is Here Except All of Us (Feb. 2nd), by Ramona Ausubel, is the story of an isolated Jewish village that seals itself off into an imaginary world to escape the horrible reality of 1939 Romania. Another debut, Alex George’s A Good American (Feb. 7th), chronicles the lives of two German immigrants who come to New Orleans in 1904, and the generations that follow.
On Valentine’s Day, Scotty Bowers’ memoir, Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars, was released. 88 year old Bower claims to have arranged sexual liaisons for closeted actors and actresses in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s. The tell-all is already sparking controversy over the validity of Bowers’ stories, which name-drop stars Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, among others.
Also available this month are The Hunger Pains (Feb. 7th), the Harvard Lampoon’s parody of The Hunger Games, and Lone Wolf (Feb. 28th), Jodi Picoult’s latest novel.
