TODAY'S NEWS

Borders Names McGuire Head of the Board
A week after embattled retail chain Borders named Ron Marshall its new CEO, the company has tapped Richard “Mick” McGuire to be chairman of its board. The 32-year-old former hedge fund exec is replacing Larry Pollock, who's held the non-executive post since July 2006; Pollock is keeping a seat on the board.

McGuire joined the company's board in 2008 as part of his role at Pershing Square Capital, the firm which is the retailer's largest investor. (Pershing Square also had a stake in Barnes & Noble, but dumped its shares in that chain on Monday.) The move, therefore, points to Pershing Square's increasing control of Borders. At Pershing Square McGuire handled investments in retail, consumer products and business and financial services. Before Pershing Square McGuire worked for, among others, J.H. Whitney & Co. and Stonington Partners.

Follett Ends Trade Store Experiment
by Edward Nawotka
After nearly three years in business, Intellectual Property, a stand-alone trade bookstore operated by Follett in Austin, Texas, will close in March. The 6,000-sq-ft. bookstore opened in 2006 across from the campus of the University of Texas and exclusively sold trade books, academic titles, and sidelines, but no textbooks.

Initially, Follett discussed the possibility of using Intellectual Property and its branding as a prototype for future trade stores, though no subsequent locations were opened. Read on »

Grand Central Signs Chris Rock
Comedian and actor Chris Rock has signed to do a book, tentatively scheduled for fall 2010, with Grand Central. Esther Newberg and Eddy Yablans at ICM negotiated the deal with Grand Central v-p and editor-in-chief Deb Futter. This is Rock’s first book since the bestselling Rock This!, a collection of essays released by Hyperion in paperback in 1990. Rock’s TV series, Everyone Hates Chris, which airs on the CW Network, has won numerous awards.

Dorchester Signs with LibreDigital for e-Book Distribution
By Craig Morgan Teicher
Dorchester, a leading independent publisher of romance, horror, thriller and western mass-market paperbacks, announced today that LibreDigtial will handle the distribution of its content through digital channels, making all of Dochester's frontlist and selected backlist titles available as e-books on a wide array of devices and formats. Dorchester president and CEO John Prebich said that HarperCollins—which distributes Dorchester’s print titles—introduced him to LibreDigital. Signing with LibreDigital "is a real giant step forward, and we’re really excited,” Prebich said. When nailing down the deal with LibreDigital, Prebich said he asked for “the same capabilities that HarperCollins has, and that’s what we got.” Read on »

A Cautionary e-book Tale
By Edward Nawotka
On December 23 ScrollMotion released the first batch of its widely anticipated e-book apps for the iphone, starting with titles such as Twilight and Eragon. Within 24 hours the company had pulled them from the iTunes store due to security issues.

“A flaw in the encryption came to our attention almost immediately,” said Calvin Baker, director of ScrollMotion’s e-Book program. “Since security and DRM is among our highest priorities, we thought it important to take immediate action.” Read on »

Blogs

MORE STORIES

Newest 'Wimpy Kid' Out Today
Abrams is releasing Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw today and has announced a 1 million-copy first printing. Our reviewer says the third volume in the series will be a sure-fire hit.

 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
Jeff Kinney. Abrams/Amulet, $12.95 (224p) ISBN 978-0-8109-7068-7 The third book in this genre-busting series is certain to enlarge Kinney’s presence on the bestseller lists, where the previous titles have taken up residence for the past two years. Kinney’s spot-on humor and winning formula of deadpan text set against cartoons are back in full force. This time, Greg starts off on New Year’s Day (he resolves to “help other people improve,” telling his mother, “I think you should work on chewing your potato chips more quietly”) and ends with summer vacation. As he fends off his father’s attempts to make him more of a man (the threat of military school looms), Greg’s hapless adventures include handing out anonymous valentines expressing his true feelings (“Dear James, You smell”), attempting to impress his classmate Holly and single-handedly wrecking his soccer team’s perfect season. Kinney allows himself some insider humor as well, with Greg noting the “racket” children’s book authors have going. “All you have to do is make up a character with a snappy name, and then make sure the character learns a lesson at the end of the book.” Greg, self-centered as ever, may be the exception proving that rule. Ages 8–12. (Jan.)

The PW Morning Report
Bush’s Book; Nelson DeMille Profile; Harvey Ginsberg Dead; Andrew Taylor Wins Cartier Diamond Dagger; Mick Imlah Dead; Finalists for Story Prize; and Gotham Book Mart Treasures Rescued Read on »

AUTHORS ON THE AIR

Authors on the Air: Beat the Reaper; The Essential Green You; Dirty Dishes
Today hosted debut novelist Josh Bazell, whose Beat the Reaper: A Novel (Little, Brown, 978-0316032223, $24.99; Hachette unabridged CD, $29.98) was called by PW, a “breezy and darkly comic suspense novel. The hero's wry narrative voice, coupled with Bazell’s artful use of flashbacks to sustain tension and fill in Pietro's past, are a winning combination.” Read on »

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Lupica Takes His 'Shot'
Last week Mike Lupica (r.), author of the Comeback Kids series (Philomel Books), was at the NBA store in Manhattan to read from Long Shot, the fourth book in the series. Lupica was joined by actor Kevin James, star of the new film, Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Read on »

JOB OF THE DAY

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