TODAY'S NEWS

With Big Exception, Trade Sales Slowed in September
Reports from various publishers and booksellers that sales slowed considerably in September are borne out by the just-released AAP monthly sales estimates. According to the 17 publishers that report adult hardcover results, sales fell nearly 30% in the month, while sales in the trade paperback and mass market segments were both off by more than 8%. The children’s hardcover segment provided some good news, with sales jumping almost 42% led by shipments of Brisingr, If You Give a Cat a Cupcake and Disney High School Musical 3 Junior Novel; all three had first printings of over 1 million. Children’s paperback sales were down 19.1%. The strong performance of e-books continued in September, with the 13 publishers that report sales totaling revenue of $5.1 million, a 77.8% increase over last September.

For the first nine months of the year, adult hardcover sales were off 9.2%, and children’s hardcover--hurt by comparisons to 2007’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows megahit--were down 26.3%. Sales were up in the remaining consumer segments. For the full AAP report, see the Nov. 10 issue of PW.

Trident Media Has New Seinfeld Book
By Rachel Deahl
That lunch Jerry Seinfeld had last week at Michael's with Trident Media CEO Dan Strone--it turns out there was more than food on the table. Despite being tight-lipped about the details, Strone confirmed that he is about to take out a new book from the comedian. Strone sold Seinfeld's first book, Seinlanguage, which was published in 1993 by Bantam. He called the new title a "funny comedy book," and said he expects all the big New York houses to be interested. Read on »

Texas Book Festival’s 13th Still Lucky
By Edward Nawotka
“Thank God for global warming,” said Claiborne Smith, literary director of the Texas Book Festival. Perfect 80 degree weather greeted this past weekend’s festival goers, who visited the Texas capitol in Austin for the 13th annual gathering. Despite the lack of a marquee headliner like Bill Clinton (2005) or Barack Obama (2006), both the number of attendees – typically 40,000 over the two days – and quantity of book sales – which are handled by Barnes & Noble and routinely top $100,000 -- “should be about the same,” reported Smith. Over 190 authors participated. Read on »

Norton Tests e-Galley Waters with Krugman
By Lynn Andriani
Norton is releasing one of its big winter books in e-galleys this week, a first for the publisher. Paul Krugman’s The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 (an updated and revised version of a book published in 1999), which will be published December 1, is available in e-galleys at the publisher’s Web site.

Norton publicity director Louise Brockett said this is Norton trade’s first foray into e-galleys, and that the decision to do so was largely based on timing. Norton announced in mid-October that it would publish the book, following Krugman’s Nobel Prize in economics. With just two months between announcement and publication, there wasn’t enough time for printed galleys, Brockett said. “Our only objective with the e-galley was to make this book available as quickly as we could” to the media. The e-galley is not password-protected, but it is not readily available on the Norton's homepage. The publisher sent the link to the e-galley only to the media, and noted that the e-galley is only for editors to use in preparing reviews of the book or features for their publications. Editors may read the text online or print it out.

Norton will have finished copies of the book on November 14.

Graphic Novel Reporter Debuts
by Calvin Reid
BookReporter.com, an online network of book related Web sites covering adult and children’s books, is launching GraphicNovelReporter.com, a consumer-oriented site focused on comics in the book format, later this month. Former Pages editor John Hogan, will direct the GraphicNovelReporter site. The new comics-focused site will be updated weekly and feature reviews and author interviews as well as news on comics and the movies and comics and Reading Clubs. Read on »

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Yesterday's presidential election seems to have knocked authors to the back burner on most TV shows in favor of dissecting the results. Today, The View hosted Vernon Jordan, whose Make It Plain: Standing Up and Speaking Out (PublicAffairs, 9781586482985, $24.95) is just out this week. Read on »

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Father and Son in the Lone Star State
Former Dallas Cowboys player Tony Hill (l.) recently stopped by the Plano, Tex., Barnes & Noble to sign copies of From Selma to the Super Bowl: A Story of a Boy from the Bottoms (Joshua Tree Publishing). The book was written by Tony’s father, Leroy Hill, who recently passed away. Joyce Spizer Foy, who co-wrote the book, also came to sign copies. Submit your pictures here »

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