March 2010 – GalleyCat http://www.adweek.com/galleycat Covering the book publishing industry Wed, 07 Dec 2016 21:20:27 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.4.2 Borders Group Reportedly Secures Financing Ahead of April Deadline http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/borders-group-reportedly-secures-financing-ahead-of-april-deadline/12416 http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/borders-group-reportedly-secures-financing-ahead-of-april-deadline/12416#respond Wed, 31 Mar 2010 21:23:39 +0000 http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/borders-group-reportedly-secures-financing-ahead-of-april-deadline_b12416 borderslogo23.pngA report has surfaced that Borders Group has met its deadline for payment of a $42.5 million loan to Pershing Square Capital Management. The news arrived on the eve of an April 1st deadline for the loan.

Reuters reports: “on Wednesday repaid a loan to its largest investor and secured access to more credit to meet its future borrowing needs, a person familiar with the matter said.”

UPDATE: Borders also reported its financial results for the fiscal year. In the fourth quarter, consolidated sales were $937.3 million–dropping 13.3 percent compared to the same quarter last year. Overall, the bookseller reported $2.8 billion in total consolidated sales, falling 13.9 percent compared to 2008.

Here’s more about the credit deal: “[Borders] has entered into an amended and restated revolving credit agreement. The new, $700 million senior secured asset-based credit facility matures in March 2014 and replaces the company’s existing revolving credit agreement, which would have matured in July 2011. Banc of America Securities LLC, Wells Fargo Retail Finance, LLC, J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and GE Capital Markets, Inc. acted as joint lead arrangers and book runners.”

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GalleyCat Reviews “Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang” by Chelsea Handler http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/galleycat-reviews-chelsea-chelsea-bang-bang-by-chelsea-handler/12415 http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/galleycat-reviews-chelsea-chelsea-bang-bang-by-chelsea-handler/12415#respond Wed, 31 Mar 2010 20:23:59 +0000 http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/galleycat-reviews-chelsea-chelsea-bang-bang-by-chelsea-handler_b12415

Reviewed by P.E. Logan
Read more about GalleyCat Reviews

9780446563536_94X145.jpgThe title of late-night comedian Chelsea Handler‘s new book is Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang (Grand Central Publishing). It is a series of relatively disconnected essays on life–well, her life–that range from masturbation to peeing in your pants. Wait! That’s not a broad enough range for you? There are also interspecies putdowns, sibling jousts and lots of mate-as-dork insults toward her boyfriend.

A book like this is not writing for the ages, it’s brand extension, like celebrity perfume or the old-school lunchboxes. It is book as product. The hallmarks are always the same; paper stock thin as Charmin, margins wide enough for a short grocery list and suspiciously large font (such publishing devices save production costs, but bulk out the book so it looks and feels substantial to consumers).

But, folks, you can’t get all wrapped around the axle if you’re going to read the oeuvre of late-night talk show hosts. You don’t bring Velveeta to a cheese tasting, but it’s perfect for microwaved nachos.


Handler, a stand up comedian with the popular E! TV show, Chelsea Lately, is a terrific whippersnapper and probably the “new” Joan Rivers. Her humor is raw and unflinching. Her rat-a-tat irony shoots on sight and no noun is safe: all people, places or things will be taken down by her arsenal, which I find uproariously funny at 11 p.m. on TV.

On her show, she purposely stocks her panel with C-level guests, unknown showbiz types who you could not pick out of a lineup even if they were up against the wall with the L.A. Lakers. The methodology is that regular people are funnier than celebs on message. And she’s right.

In her book the regular guests are replaced by her family, friends and staff. Ted, the boyfriend (now an ex), is an ongoing target. Luckily he is the C.E.O. of E! and Ms. Handler can get away with atypical employee fun (do not try these wicked e-mail gags at your work place).

Through her telling, he never suspects his acerbically charged girlfriend is pulling his leg. He swallows whole cloth the e-mail saying a gynecologist will be on the set offering free check ups to female and male staff. (“Don’t say anything yet to CH but having outside Dr in is a problem as outlined below…” he writes in a response e-mail to her assistant, Eva.) And she strings him from here to Palookaville with the one about accidently killing a Hollywood agent’s cherished bulldog and the subsequent funeral at the Santa Monica Pier. He’s a good foil, Ricky to her Lucy, and his foot is always caught in the bear trap.

Then there’s her family: a survivalist’s group of five kids from Livingston, N.J., with their flaky parents. Here is a typical wicked Chelsea moment, when she and her brother Greg eat mushrooms–not talking sauteed enoki here–at a restaurant with her sister’s fiance. (This is how they impress future family members.) I don’t know if this story–like all the stories in her book–is true. But if that’s what you need as a reader, best to take out Mitt Romney’s new tome on Republican heraldry from the library. (Well, then again…)

There is always one problem with reading a comedian’s book. It is rarely as funny on the page as the act is on stage. Comedy, whether at a small club, an amphitheater or in front of the Tonight Show curtain depends on delivery and body language. A stance is as funny, funnier often, as the well-worked gag line. And timing is everything. You don’t get that delivery as a reader.

Here, you have to be in the right mood to buy into why Ms. Handler is driven to net a dolphin and bring it home to her L.A. apartment or about the coleslaw smoothies on the Vineyard or why she calls her black driver Chocolate Chunk. I’m not sure what mood you have to be in when you read the opening chapter “The Feeling,” a smashup of wanting a Cabbage Patch Doll and masturbating, although not together as one item.

Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang will sell like hotcakes. They’ll make zillions. The book is no doubt hurling toward the #1 slot on The New York Times Best Sellers list. But at least now you know why. Pass the nachos.

pat23.JPGP.E. Logan is communications professional and a writer in New York. She has worked at various adult trade publishing houses including Random House, Putnam, Macmillan and Simon & Schuster for almost three decades. She now works at The New York Times. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post and other periodicals.

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Guns n’ Roses Bassist Scores Book Deal; Joins Jane’s Addiction http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/guns-n-roses-bassist-scores-book-deal-joins-janes-addiction/12413 http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/guns-n-roses-bassist-scores-book-deal-joins-janes-addiction/12413#respond Wed, 31 Mar 2010 19:23:59 +0000 http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/guns-n-roses-bassist-scores-book-deal-joins-janes-addiction_b12413 duff_mckagan_200.jpg.jpeg

Duff McKagan confirmed rumors that he has signed on with Touchstone to write a memoir.

McKagan announced the news (which had been percolating for about a month) via his column in Seattle Weekly last Thursday. He also took the opportunity to shoot down a couple assumptions we might be making about how this project will unfold.

Writes McKagan: “I want to also make clear that this book is not a GN’R ‘tell-all’ or some other such ‘rock’ book. Rather, it will be a story of an ordinary guy who met with extraordinary circumstances, and the circumnavigation through these situations.”

And second, McKagan will apparently not be using a ghost-writer: “I WILL be writing this myself, thick or thin,” he says.

McKagan’s right that ghost-written rock star tell-alls are a dime a dozen. In fact, Slash, the GnR guitarist, did his own three years ago. (Title: Slash.) But the flip-side is that, well, sometimes rock star tell-alls are awesome. And it’s hard to sell a story about circumnavigation.

McKagan will be working with Stacy Creamer, the Touchstone VP and Publisher, and Tim Mohr, his old editor at Playboy. The book is due out Fall 2011. In the meantime, Dave Navarro announced via twitter today that McKagan will be joining Jane’s Addiction as a full-time bassist.

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How to Win a Free iPad http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/how-to-win-a-free-ipad/12412 http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/how-to-win-a-free-ipad/12412#respond Wed, 31 Mar 2010 18:23:59 +0000 http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/how-to-win-a-free-ipad_b12412 buzzfeedlogo.pngCan’t afford an Apple iPad? Join this GalleyCat editor and millions of other Internet users in a quest to win a free iPad. This week BuzzFeed launched a viral contest for readers, giving away a free iPad to the reader who can generate the most traffic.

Here’s more: “So you think you’re good at the internet, huh? We challenge you to launch the next huge viral sensation on BuzzFeed … WHAT TO DO: 1. Create a new Feed around a simple, awesome concept that could go viral 2. Email feedbattle@buzzfeed.com to enter your Feed in the contest 3. Launch original content and get as much traffic as possible before April 16, 2010.”

The contest adds to our growing collection of How to Win a Free iPad resources. After the jump we are adding more iPad-winning contests. Leave your suggestions in the comments section.


The New Living Translation Facebook page is giving away a free iPad. Sign up here.

Follow this link to see eight more ways to win a free iPad.

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Lit Agent, Harvey Klinger Wants Strong Women’s Fiction http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/lit-agent-harvey-klinger-wants-strong-womens-fiction/12411 http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/lit-agent-harvey-klinger-wants-strong-womens-fiction/12411#respond Wed, 31 Mar 2010 18:23:27 +0000 http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/lit-agent-harvey-klinger-wants-strong-womens-fiction_b12411
Harvey Klinger has been a staple in the book publishing industry since the mid-70s. When we were thinking of who to interview for agency series, he was one of the first I wanted to reach out to. In our interview with Mr. Klinger, he discusses why he believes his agency has an advantage over others, why he’s looking for a great science project, and what he really thinks of the new technologies coming out .


You’ve been in the business quite some time, Mr. Klinger how did you trek into publishing begin? And secondly, why do you think your agency is one of the best in the biz?
I’m the President of my eponymous agency, Harvey Klinger, Inc., which I began in October, 1977. I think I’m the best agent in the business because 1) I’ve been around since the last glacier hit Manhattan; 2) I come from a family of lawyers, so negotiatating great contracts for my authors is a genetic stroke of luck; 3) I love the creative process of making a good proposal a great one. That, no doubt, comes from the fact that when I got my M.A. in The Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins, I thought I’d get an agent with no problem. Well, that obviously didn’t happen, so I became one!

There’s so much going on in publishing now, and on top of that what is happening to the economy. What have you done to brace yourself for the economic changes to the industry?
I realize that it’s very tough to sell a non-fiction project unless the person already has something of a national forum or platform for his/her work. Many would be authors talk about what they’ll do once their book is published. Publishers want to know what you’re doing now to create a name for yourself in advance of a book’s publication.

It’s so tough for anyone artistic to make a living from their art, what do you suggest authors do to avoid counting pennies?
Get a job in a good restaurant.

Having been an agent since, as you said, “The last glacier hit Manhattan,” you certainly have seen a lot of changes in the way books are published. What do you think about all these technological changes happening such as the Kindle, such as the iPad, etc.?
I think that any form of technology that makes people read books who would otherwise be checking their iPhones or playing video games on their computers is a good thing.

So, Mr. Klinger, what would you say is hot right now, what are editors begging you for?
Strong women’s fiction and great narrative non-fiction on topics of interest.

So, is that what you are looking for now too?
Interesting proposals on science subjects always interest me by experts in their field. I’m always on the look out for a great biography or superb new first novel.

For those aspiring writers out there, what is the best way for writers to approach you?
Check our our website www.harveyklinger.com –and if your book sounds like something for me, just email a query.

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Reading While Green: Is the NYPL’s Battery Park City Branch the Library of the Future? http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/reading-while-green-is-the-nypls-battery-park-city-branch-the-library-of-the-future/12410 http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/reading-while-green-is-the-nypls-battery-park-city-branch-the-library-of-the-future/12410#respond Wed, 31 Mar 2010 18:23:25 +0000 http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/reading-while-green-is-the-nypls-battery-park-city-branch-the-library-of-the-future_b12410 seattle library.jpg

A new public library opened in Battery Park City on March 18 and the Times devoted a thousand words and a slide show to it last Friday.

In case you missed the article, here’s the key paragraph: “Instead of the comforting mustiness of older libraries, the whole space is filled with oxygen and light, streaming through floor-to-ceiling windows and bouncing off the blond wood floors (made from lumber salvaged during the manufacturing of window frames, thank you).” The whole 10,000 square foot place–funded in part by Goldman Sachs, its neighbor–is a showroom of repurposed material, right down to the old-truck-tire carpet.

The Times poses a few questions about state-of-the-art technology and the strange choice of location, but, bookish that we are, we’re more interested in hearing about some other standout library branches in the States. The Rem Koolhaas-designed Seattle Public Library comes to mind (see picture). But surely there are more. So tell us about them: Where can you find the coolest, greenest library?

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Borders Group “Close to Arranging Financing” as April Deadline Looms http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/borders-group-close-to-arranging-financing-as-april-deadline-looms/12409 http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/borders-group-close-to-arranging-financing-as-april-deadline-looms/12409#respond Wed, 31 Mar 2010 16:23:00 +0000 http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/borders-group-close-to-arranging-financing-as-april-deadline-looms_b12409 borderslogo23.pngTomorrow Borders Group will face a deadline on a $42.5-million loan from Pershing Square Capital Management. Despite speculation about bankruptcy earlier this week, an unidentified source has said the company “is close” to reaching a financing solution.

Business Week reports that the bookseller “is close to arranging financing that would allow it to repay a loan due this week, two people with knowledge of the matter said.” Nevertheless, Standard & Poor’s analyst Michael Souers noted in the article: “Their long-term viability is still up in the air.”

To read more about what publishing commentators have written about Borders’ impending deadline, follow this link. To read more about layoffs at the bookseller in January, follow this link.

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Arthur C. Clarke Award 2009 Shortlist Announced http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/arthur-c-clarke-award-2009-shortlist-announced/12408 http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/arthur-c-clarke-award-2009-shortlist-announced/12408#respond Wed, 31 Mar 2010 15:23:23 +0000 http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/arthur-c-clarke-award-2009-shortlist-announced_b12408 arthur-c-clarke_thumb.jpgThe shortlist for the UK’s Arthur C. Clarke Award 2009 was just announced, giving six writers a shot at the £2,010 prize.

The contest is named after the famed science fiction author Clarke (pictured). The judges picked the books from 41 submissions 17 publishers and imprints. The winner will be revealed on April 28th at the Sci-fi London Film Festival. The shortlist:

Spirit by Gwyneth Jones (Gollancz)
The City & The City by China Mieville (Macmillan)
Yellow Blue Tibia by Adam Roberts (Gollancz)
Galileo’s Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson (HarperCollins)
Far North by Marcel Theroux (Faber & Faber)
Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding (Gollancz)


Here’s more from the site: “The judging panel for the 2010 Arthur C. Clarke Award are Chris Hill and Jon Courtenay Grimwood for the British Science Fiction Association, Francis Spufford and Rhiannon Lassiter for the Science Fiction Foundation and Paul Skevington for the science fiction news website SFCrowsnest.com. Paul Billinger represents the Arthur C. Clarke Award as the Chair of Judges.” (via Jose Afonso Furtado)

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Enhanced Editions Co-Founder and Canongate Digital Editor Ponder the Future of Enhanced eBooks http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/enhanced-editions-co-founder-and-canongate-digital-editor-ponder-the-future-of-enhanced-ebooks/12407 http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/enhanced-editions-co-founder-and-canongate-digital-editor-ponder-the-future-of-enhanced-ebooks/12407#respond Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:23:41 +0000 http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/enhanced-editions-co-founder-and-canongate-digital-editor-ponder-the-future-of-enhanced-ebooks_b12407 pc23.jpgHow much is an enhanced eBook worth? That question will haunt authors, publishers, and developers when the iPad arrives.

Today’s guests on the Morning Media Menu were Enhanced Editions co-founder Peter Collingridge (pictured, via) and Canongate digital editor Dan Franklin–talking about what digital reading will be like in a post-iPad world. Earlier this week the pair helped launch an eBook app for novelist Philip Pullman’s new book, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. The digital edition contains an audiobook, ebook, and video footage in a single package for the iPhone.

Press play on the player embedded below to listen.

Around the 9:00-minute mark, conversation turned to eBook pricing. Collingridge explained: “There is an attachment to the physical object–people think the physical object is worth more. So a cheap physical object compared to a digital object they couldn’t hold in their hands … [We are asking] what value can we add back into the eBook? All of the feedback we’ve received about pricing–you can go look at it on iTunes now–is that the prices we’ve been charging seem like a really great value. Because you get three products in one.”


Franklin concluded: “You really have to respect the ecosystem in which you are selling something. We were both aware that £5 in the UK, is the ceiling for apps–you’re starting to get into dangerous territory. But really, £9.99 or ($16.99 in the US and Canada) is a really good value for what you’re getting. Otherwise you’re buying a $14.99 eBook and an $11.99 audio download. You have to respect the market.”

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H.P. Lovecraft Film Would Make Great eBook Bundle http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/h-p-lovecraft-film-would-make-great-ebook-bundle/12406 http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/h-p-lovecraft-film-would-make-great-ebook-bundle/12406#respond Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:23:23 +0000 http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/h-p-lovecraft-film-would-make-great-ebook-bundle_b12406

When the Apple iPad arrives, it will bring a whole new set of relationships between writers and other creators. What kind of new relationships would you like to see?

Earlier this week, this editor was watching the excellent film, The Call of Cthulhu. Created by the loving fans at H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society (HPLHS), these artists imagined how a silent film director would have adapted Lovecraft’s classic novel in the 1920s. When the iPad and other tablet computers are more integrated into our reading experience, this editor hopes publishers can team up with creators like the HPLHS to create multimedia packages–perhaps bundling the film alongside the eBook.

In the meantime, you can stream the movie at Netflix and check out the book here. The group is working on an adaptation of The Whisperer in Darkness next–check out the project here.

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