Perseus Books Group has received "dozens of signed contracts from
PGW publishers, including Clies, Parallax and Wisdom, and many other
clients have told us they will be sending in signed contracts the next
day [i.e. today]," David Steinberger, president and CEO of Perseus,
indicated to Shelf Awareness.
Steinberger called the response "extremely gratifying" and said that
the company is working hard to make offers to all the publishers. He
added, "It is also vital that PGW publishers who have not done so
already give PGW the O.K. to release their sales information so we can
analyze it and send out an offer."
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As
one part of Perseus takes on more distribution clients in the U.S., its
publishing operations switch distributors across the Atlantic.
Effective today, Grantham Book Services, a division of Random House
Group U.K., is handling warehouse and distribution services for the
Perseus Books Group in the U.K. and Europe. The Perseus houses, which include
Basic Books, Basic Civitas, Counterpoint, Da Capo Press, Da Capo
Lifelong Books, PublicAffairs and Westview Press, had been distributed
by Marston Book Services. Perseus's Running Press books, which are
being distributed by Littlehampton Book Services, will be distributed by
Grantham effective February 26.
Perseus Distribution and Consortium are not part of the agreement.
---
Molly Ivins, the syndicated columnist, former co-editor of the Texas Monthly and author of many books, died yesterday of breast cancer, the Houston Chronicle reported. She was 62.
Among her books, whose titles were as colorful as her prose, were Shrub: The Short But Happy Political Life of George W. Bush; Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's America, which she wrote with Lou Dubose; Who Let the Dogs In?: Incredible Political Animals I Have Known and Molly Ivins Can't Really Say That, Can She?
In an interview last year with the Chronicle, she said she had
made a career writing about "who was getting screwed and who was doing
the screwing." She also called President Bush "Billy Bob Forehead" and
Texas Governor Rick Perry "Governor Goodhair. Despite the rhetoric, both leaders issued statemens yeserday prasing Ivins.
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Sidney Sheldon, the prolific author who began writing suspense
novels
at age 50 after successful careers as a playwright, screenwriter and TV
writer, died on Tuesday at 89 of complications from pneumonia, the AP
reported.
Among his bestselling titles were Rage of Angels, The Other Side of Midnight, Master of the Game and If Tomorrow Comes. His autobiography, The Other Side of Me (Warner, $25.95, 9780446532679/0446532673), was published in late 2005.
"I try to write my books so the reader can't put them down,'' he said
in a 1982 interview quoted by the AP. "I try to construct them so when
the reader gets to the end of a chapter, he or she has to read just one
more chapter. It's the technique of the old Saturday afternoon serial:
leave the guy hanging on the edge of the cliff at the end of the
chapter.''
Women were fans of his titles, he said, because "I like to write about
women who are talented and capable, but most important, retain their
femininity. Women have tremendous power--their femininity, because men
can't do without it.''
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An author event at Prairie Lights Books in Iowa City, Iowa, was cancelled Tuesday, the Daily Iowan reported,
after the store received a threat in response to the title featured on
the evening's agenda: Abortion Under Attack: Women on the Challenges
Facing Choice edited by Krista Jacob.
"I was really surprised, because I always have protestors at my events,
but my events always happen," Jacob told the paper. "I just really
would have liked the opportunity to talk about my book."
The exact nature of the threat is not known, but the store closed at 6
p.m. (one hour in advance of the scheduled event) because of possible
safety issues. "By 7:30 p.m., a hand-painted blue sign declaring Iowa
City to be a free-speech zone was hanging on the door to Prairie
Lights," noted the Daily Iowan. They also reported that several people
gathered outside the store after it closed "toting signs in support of
Jacob and free speech."
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Encouraging a better vibe: a sign in the New Renaissance Bookshop in Portland, Ore., reads in its entirety: "Shoplifting is poverty consciousness."