Big deals signed for study of a 19th-century family of killers, Hell’s Half-Acre, and Murder Isn’t Easy, a mortician’s take on Agatha Christie’s forensics The spectre of true crime was stalking the aisles at this year’s London book fair, with publishers snapping up investigations into past evils in the wake of successes in podcasting and television such as Dirty John, Serial and The Teacher’s Pet.Offers were flying in for former Waterstones bookseller Susan Jonusas’s first book Hell’s Half-Acre, a study of the the Bender family of serial killers in Kansas in 1873. Jonusas, 24, left Waterstones in December to write full-time. “Buried on a homestead seven miles south of the town were 11 bodies in varying states of decay. Further investigation revealed a well containing remains of even more victims. The number of people murdered was estimated at 20,” said Jonusas’s literary agency. “The idea that a family of seemingly respectable homesteaders were capable of operating ‘a human slaughter pen’ appalled and fascinated the nation. But who the Benders really were, why they committed such a vicious killing spree and what became of them when they fled from the law is a mystery that has remained unsolved to this day.” UK rights are still being finalised, with Viking snapping it up for a six-figure deal in the US. Agent Georgina Capel, who was fielding offers for the book, said: “I suspect the true-crime podcast thing is driving the current interest.” Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2019-03-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Private equity firm Aurelius has bought wholesaler and distributor Connect Books from distribution company the Connect Group for £11.6m. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-12-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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James Shaw, the Edinburgh International Book Festival's long-serving head of book sales and retail, is stepping down in October 2018. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-12-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kristen Roupenian, the author of “Cat Person,” a fiction piece in The New Yorker that became a viral phenomenon, has agreed to a two-book deal. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2017-12-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Merle Nygate has won the inaugural Little, Brown Award for crime fiction at the University of East Anglia (UEA). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-12-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The amount of money libraries in Great Britain are spending on books has fallen by £45.8m since 2007, deeper analysis of figures from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) have revealed. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-12-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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One week after it found itself running out of stock of 'Obama: An Intimate Portrait,' Little, Brown says many chain stores and independents now have stock. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Over the course of its four decades in business, the tiny Boston-area specialty bookstore has weathered monumental changes in publishing, and had an outsized role in the world of children’s books. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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What will kids be reading in 2018? Scholastic editors issue five predictions about what children's book trends will be popular and successful next year. The post Trends in Children’s Books: Five 2018 Predictions from Scholastic appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2017-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Yellow Kite has pre-empted a book by a French Zen Buddhist nun instructing readers "how to find silence" in their day-to-day lives. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As a new report reveals the dire financial straits being faced by literary novelists, we investigate how these bleak conditions arose and what can be done to help the writers, regarded by some as thoroughbreds and by others as ghosts of Christmas past. We also catch up with Edward St Aubyn, one... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2017-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sphere has acquired two more historical fiction novels by author Jenny Ashcroft. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Following her viral short story hit, Kristen Roupenian’s You Know You Want This has been sold to Cape in the UK, with the US auction said to be topping $1mKristen Roupenian, whose short story about a relationship turned sour, Cat Person, set the internet on fire last week, has sold her debut... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2017-12-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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What do The Handmaid’s Tale, 1984, Rupi Kaur’s stories of survival, and The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck have in common? They are all some of 2017’s best-selling books, according to Barnes & Noble. The bookseller has just released its top-selling fiction and nonfiction titles, and the... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2017-12-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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French publishers say 93 percent of their paper is now recycled or green-certified and Bowker partners with book discovery startup Book+Main. The post France’s Publishers Cite Progress in Sustainable Paper Consumption; Bowker Partners With Book+Main appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2017-12-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It has been a “bumpy year” for the trade, with the market “a little unpredictable” in the face of “huge uncertainty” created by Brexit and Donald Trump’s presidency, The Bookseller has heard. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-12-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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My two favorite books of 2017: Achy Obejas’s superb story collection “The Tower of Antilles” (Akashic Books) deals with the conflicted relationships Cubans, exiles and Cuban Americans have with their homeland, with the U.S., and, more poignantly, with each other; Vanessa Angélica Villarreal’s... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2017-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House UK has signed an "Agreement for Lease" for a new London office, One Embassy Gardens. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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“We Are Never Meeting in Real Life,” Samantha Irby’s collection of candid, funny and deliberate essays will make you laugh until you pee and cry and ache in your belly. It’s like nothing you’ve ever read, because Irby is like no one you’ve ever met, although you will never really know, because... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2017-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Lucy Foley has signed a "strong six-figure deal" for her first crime novel and one other book with HarperCollins. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-12-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A range of food and drink books from publishers including Bloomsbury, Phaidon and Quiller Publishing have been shortlisted for the André Simon Food & Drink Book Awards. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-12-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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