Six-figure deal for 900-page first novel

Garth Risk Hallberg's City on Fire described by publisher as 'best American novel I've ever read'Fresh from selling film rights to Scott Rudin and signing a $2m publishing deal in the US, the novelist Garth Risk Hallberg has struck a "substantial" six-figure deal with Jonathan Cape in the UK for his 900-page debut novel, City on Fire.As the scramble for rights continues around the world, publishers are lining up to salute a book which his lucky UK editor described as "the best American novel I've ever read". But the 34-year-old Hallberg is no literary ingenue. A regular reviewer for the New York Times Book Review and a contributing editor to the online literary magazine The Millions, Hallberg has been steadily publishing short fiction for almost a decade – his illustrated novella, A Field Guide to the North American Family, appeared in 2007.Now he has produced a novel which reaches its climax with a backdrop of vandalism, looting and arson in the 1977 New York City blackout – a story of such scale, ambition and readability that it has become this year's publishing sensation.According to Hallberg's UK editor, Alex Bowler, who acquired UK rights after a week-long seven-way battle, the novel is "the only thing people are talking about in the industry"."It's a distillation of great American writing," he said. "You can feel people like Don DeLillo, James Baldwin, Tom Wolfe and Patti Smith animating the writing – it's got that fizz, that energy and ambition. But I wouldn't use... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2013-11-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #matthew thomas #editor called #fine tuning

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Six-figure deal for 900-page first novel'

Kindle gets real page numbers; better note, highlight & review sharing

By Tim Conneally, Betanews Amazon on Monday pre-released a software update for Kindle e-readers running the 3.0 software which updates the interface for magazines and newspapers, adds a quick review section at the end of each book, and adds page numbers that match Kindle books with their print... Continue reading at Betanews

[ Betanews | 2011-02-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #social activity #general public #social networks

Hearst walks away from BBC Magazines deal

Hearst Corporation, parent to the National Magazine Company, has confirmed for the first time it is no longer in talks to buy BBC Magazines following its Lagardère move. Continue reading at Media Week

[ Media Week | 2011-02-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #hearst corporation

iPad is a devil's deal for publishers

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews Apple's approach to magazine and newspaper subscriptions and third-party ebook sales stink of the kind of practices that got Microsoft into trouble with trustbusters on two continents during the late 1990s and early 2000s. A year ago, publishers embraced iPad as the... Continue reading at Betanews