More Than 900 Writers Sign Letter to Amazon, Hachette and Perseus Deal Falls Through, and More

by
Staff
8.8.14

Every day Poets & Writers Magazine scans the headlines—from publishing reports to academic announcements to literary dispatches—for all the news that creative writers need to know. Here are today’s stories:

The planned acquisition of Perseus Books by Hachette and Ingram has fallen through. As part of the deal, Perseus's imprints would have gone to Hachette and its distribution to Ingram. Hachette, still deeply embroiled in a battle with Amazon, depends heavily on its best-selling fiction titles, whose sales have suffered during the dispute. The purchase of Perseus would have added a number of strong nonfiction titles to Hachette’s list. In a letter to employees, Perseus CEO David Steinberger explained that the three companies "could not reach an agreement on everything necessary to close the transaction." (Publishers Weekly)

As of this week, an open letter written to Amazon by best-selling thriller writer Douglas Preston—who launched the group Authors United in response to Amazon’s stranglehold tactics against publishers—has been signed by more than 900 writers. The letter, which argues that Amazon’s actions are hurting writers, will run as a full-page ad in Sunday's New York Times.

Amazon supporters have written a letter of their own, petitioning Hachette to “stop fighting low prices and fair wages.” (Change.org)

Meanwhile, best-selling Hachette author James Patterson details what he would do if he were Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. (CNN)

Simon & Schuster saw a 12 percent increase in revenue in the second quarter of 2014. The publisher credited the success to best-sellers such as Hillary Clinton’s Hard Choices and Stephen King’s Mr. Mercedes. (Publishers Weekly)

In an effort to "digitize and organize material that's been practically dead to the world,” the Smithsonian Libraries have brought a number of lost book illustrations to life, creating GIFs from the pages of centuries-old books in their collections. Among the the resurrected images are sketches from Galileo’s astronomical diaries and flying squirrels from the 1856 Report of the Commissioner of Patents. (Huffington Post)

Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment have teamed up to acquire the film rights to Anne Rice’s long-running novel series The Vampire Chronicles. (GalleyCat)

“I’m a connoisseur of bad poetry of the elegiac variety.” Author and "A Prairie Home Companion" host Garrison Keillor talks to the New York Times about the contents of his bookshelves, his literary heroes, and his decision to open a bookstore in St. Paul, Minnesota.