TODAY'S NEWS

The Pound Weighs Heavily in London
By Jim Milliot
The high cost of doing business was the early topic of conversation at this year's London Book Fair as Americans were confronted with $100 cab rides in from the airport, $25 lunch bills and $10 cups of coffee. The weak dollar also had an impact on the cost of exhibiting. Janet Fritsch, president of the American Collective Stand, said exhibiting expenses were up about 5% this year, with half due to the decline of the dollar and the other half due to higher prices.

On the deal front, agents were divided on the best way to approach the currency issue. Trident president Robert Gottlieb said that his agency now sells foreign rights in pounds or euros only. As Trident foreign rights director Lara Allen explains it, "deals in pounds are very beneficial," particularly in terms of authors' royalties. The skyrocketing GBP is having a ripple effect in this regard even on foreign deals a few years old; today's payout from a British publisher to an American author is worth that much more. Read on »

Marvel, Harper Debut Spidey Kids' Books
by Calvin Reid
Marvel Comics and HarperCollins Children's Books are teaming up to launch a reading program based around Marvel's popular character Spider-Man. The new line, called simply, Spider-Man, will release its first titles in winter 2009; it will focus on a variety of children's formats, including beginning readers, story books, chapter books, phonics sets and novelty publications.

The initial line—21 titles in all—will launch with four books, including a beginning reader (Spider-Man Versus the Vulture), two chapter books and a story book. The program will not include comics, but the books will have illustrations. Read on »

Zinio Puts 100+ Classics Online as E-Books
By Lynn Andriani
Zinio wants publishers to know it is open for business — e-book business, that is. The online publishing, distribution and retail-services company has launched a series of classics in e-book format at www.zinio.com/classics. There are more than 100 books available and they are free for anyone to read.

Of course, copies of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and The Three Musketeers have been available free on the Internet for years; so why is Zinio touting its new line? The company "wanted to showcase the most impressive on-screen reading experience while maintaining the integrity and feel of the old classics," said CEO Rich Maggiotto. Zinio currently partners with Hearst, IDG, Hachette Filipacchi, McGraw-Hill, Primedia, Ziff Davis and other media companies, and is seeking to expand its partnerships to more book publishers. Read on »

Weinstein Wins Auction for Bestselling French Journal
By Matthew Thornton
Weinstein Books may be in a period of transition, but it’s still buying books. The publisher just won a six-way auction for U.S. rights to French bestseller Journal, by Helene Berr, via UK publisher Quercus. Described as the French analog to Anne Frank, Berr was a young Parisian student who died in a Nazi concentration camp. Rob Weisbach, who announced his resignation as president and CEO of Weinstein last week, acquired the book with Weinstein associate publisher Kristin Powers. Read on »

Web Exclusive Reviews
This week: a triumverate of feminist-folk-rock pioneers, building a better sales tax, ancient Egypt and Soviet Russia, going green with consumerism, going consumerist with Christ, and a classy new overview of Pop Art. Plus: three smokin' new guides to grilling. Read on »

Blogs

MORE STORIES

Three Answers: Michael Tonello
Three Answers from Michael Tonello, whose memoir, Bringing Home the Birkin: My Life in Hot Pursuit of the World's Most Coveted Handbag, will be published on Aril 22 by William Morrow Read on »

AUTHORS ON THE AIR

Authors on the Air: Herschel Walker; Marya Hornbacher; Head Cases
Today, both Good Morning America and Nightline talk with NFL legend and Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker, author of Breaking Free: My Life Wtih Dissociative Identity Disorder (Touchstone, $24.95). Tomorrow, he’ll be on both CNN’s American Morning and Anderson Cooper 360. Read on »

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Frank on Mankell
Henning Mankell, Sweden’s “most-read author” according to U.S. publisher The New Press, was at the Scandinavia House Thursday night for a Q&A with New Yorker senior editor Jeffrey Frank. Mankell has been translated into 37 languages and there are more than 30 million copies of his books in print, worldwide. The New Press published Eye of the Leopard this month and will release The Pyramid, a collection of short mysteries, in September. Pictured here at the event (l. to r.) are: Sarah Fan, editor, The New Press; Frank; Mankell; Anne Sullivan, publicity director, The New Press; and Jyothi Natarajan, editorial assistant, The New Press.
photo credit: Tina Buckman Submit your pictures here »

JOB OF THE DAY

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