Neil Gaiman signs a 5-book deal for the kids

Award-winning writer Neil Gaiman has signed a new 5-book deal with HarperCollins, it was announced Wednesday. But adult fans of the author will have to wait for another Gaiman book written specifically for them.

HarperCollins will publish three middle-grade books -- "middle grade" refers to books for children ages  8-12 -- by Gaiman. One will be a sequel to 2009's "Odd and the Frost Giants," based on Norse mythology. One is as yet unannounced; the other is tentatively titled "Fortunately, the Milk," and will feature art by Skottie Young.

Gaiman is also creating two picture books for the publisher, both featuring Chu, a little panda with a big sneeze. The first, "Chu's Day," will be published in January 2013. Gaiman, who has an active Internet presence, posted an image of Chu online in February.

Always prolific, Gaiman has a book for adults on deck, tentatively titled "Lettie Hempstock's Ocean." In June he wrote on his blog:

On the plane to the UK I finished writing the new novel. I'm not sure right now if it's going to be called Lettie Hempstock's Ocean or not. I think it's a good book -- or at least, I think it's a real book, and I'm proud of it, and whether it's good or not will be up to other people to judge. Despite the protagonist being about 7 years old for most of the novel, it's a book for adults. Or at least, I think it is.

Now I'm doing things to it, including worrying that there's a better title and rereading it and making it better and clearer and scarier wherever I can. But it's a new book for adults, one I didn't even know I would write until February, and it makes me happy that it exists.

Gaiman has had success writing for all ages. He won the prestigious Newbery Award for "The Graveyard Book" (ages 10 and up), as well as winning Hugo, Nebula and Bram Stoker awards for "American Gods," a novel for adults. "The Sandman" graphic novel series also brought a number of awards Gaiman's way.

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Photo: Neil Gaiman with wife Amanda Palmer. Credit: Pixie Vision Productions

'The Sound and the Fury' as William Faulkner imagined, in color

Although William Faulkner won a Nobel Prize in literature, his writing is still considered particularly dense. One of his most difficult works is "The Sound and the Fury," which is told from multiple points of view. It begins in the voice of Benjy, a mentally disabled man whose perception is jumbled, immediate and distinctly hard to parse.

One of the reasons Benji's narrative is hard to follow is because it jumps around in time with little indication of the change, other than italics. But when Faulkner was working on the book in the 1920s -- "The Sound and the Fury" was published in 1929 -- he imagined a way to make the section clearer to readers. "I wish publishing was advanced enough to use colored ink," Faulkner wrote to his editor, "as I argued with you and Hal in the Speakeasy that day." 

"I'll just have to save the idea until publishing grows up," he added, inadvertently launching a challenge to future publishers. Nine decades later, the Folio Society took it up.

In a special edition, the Folio Society is publishing "The Sound and the Fury" in 14 colors. It's a fine press edition, quarter-bound in leather, with a slipcase and an additional volume of commentary. It also includes a color-coded bookmark that reveals which time period is designated by each color.

The Folio Society worked with two Faulkner scholars, Stephen Ross and Noel Polk, to figure out how to divide the text. Only the Benjy section is rendered in the 14 colors of ink.

"With the Benjy section the different threads are sufficiently clear that I don't feel we are distorting or compromising the novel," Folio's commissioning editor for limited editions Neil Titman told the Guardian. "I found the book tremendously confusing the first time I read it, so I think that overall you have a net gain here, rather than feeling over-guided."

The color edition of Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury" is being published July 6 in a limited edition of 1,480 and is priced at $345. One thousand preordered copies have been sold.

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Photo: William Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury" in color. Credit: The Folio Society

Tomorrow magazine, the next Good thing

Six members of the editorial staff of Good magazine were laid off on June 1, including the much-praised editor, Ann Friedman. Two others quit immediately afterward. Good, in some form, will continue without them.

As people leaving an institution often do, they gathered together and had beers. Instead of crying into them, and because they like working together so much, they decided to do one last thing as a group.

That's Tomorrow. It's a single-issue magazine, and will be produced before they scatter to the winds to, they hope, new jobs.

In a Kickstarter campaign launched Monday, they hoped to raise $15,000 -- which they did in less than four hours. On the campaign website, they explain:

For the next month, we will crash on one issue of a magazine. No salaries, no health care, no ergonomic office chairs. No foundation grants, no advisory boards, no independently wealthy vanity investors—for now, at least. That means no filler, no product placement, no luxury gift guides. It means we won’t be afraid to publish things that are complicated or sexy or weird... the kinds of things that might just get you fired. (We’ve been there.) Tomorrow will feature original articles and essays about what’s on the cusp, plus fresh design, illustrations, and photography in a quality print publication.

Although no big $500 donors came in, more than 500 people have donate between $15 and $35. "This is the people’s mag for real," Freidman wrote on the Tomorrow tumblr.

Currently their total is at more than $22,000. "I would rather see everyone paid well on this issue before we go and make a second one," Friedman told New York magazine Tuesday. But if the contributions keep coming in, maybe it won't be single issue after all.

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Mr. '50 Shades of Grey' to publish his own book

E.L. James' husband, Niall Leonard, has written a book; it will be published this fall by Doubleday in England. But while James' "50 Shades of Grey" is getting readers hot and bothered with its sexually explicit "mommy porn," don't expect Leonard to pen a dirty book for gents. He's done something else entirely: written a book for young adults.

Leonard's young adult novel "Crusher" is, England's the Bookseller reports, "a 'gritty' London-set thriller about a 17-year-old school dropout who finds his stepfather murdered and becomes prime suspect for the crime."

James is a former television executive; her husband is a professional screenwriter who's written for TV.

The book, however, was a different kind of project for him. He wrote "Crusher" in November 2011 during NaNoWriMo, the do-it-yourself novel writing challenge. "My friends and family will attest that I have been loudly promising a novel for a very long time," he wrote on his blog. "But something would always come up -- a TV episode to write, or a series bible to develop -- or I’d decide the novel’s idea wasn’t quite focused in my mind, or there were too many narrative problems that needed to be solved before I could begin.  What amazed and appalled me when I actually started writing was that none of these problems actually existed." [via]

He originally intended to self-publish the book, but drew publishers' interest. In addition to "Crusher," his agent sold two other books.

Maybe they're hoping his books will take off they way his wife's have. James has emerged as a powerhouse bestseller; her novels "50 Shades of Grey," "50 Shades Darker" and "50 Shades Freed" are at No. 1, 2 and 3, respectively, on the L.A. Times' paperback bestseller list.

A U.S. publisher for "Crusher" has not yet been announced.

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Amazon deal makes librarian Nancy Pearl less beloved

Nancy Pearl, the author of "Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment and Reason" and cheery NPR commentator, may be the nation's most beloved librarian. So beloved, in fact, that there is an action figure of her. Two, actually, the standard and deluxe edition, pictured above, which is librarian complete with library. She may be the most famous librarian in the U.S.

That kind of profile can lead to some interesting projects, and for Pearl, a lifelong book recommender, a book imprint of her own was a logical step. That imprint is titled Book Lust Rediscoveries, and it brings books Pearl loves back into print.

The only catch is that it's with Amazon.

The Washington Post talks to a number of local booksellers, both independents and a Barnes & Noble branch, that have declined to stock the books. To them, the math just doesn't make sense.

Any brick-and-mortar bookstore can buy the books from wholesalers in much the same way it would buy titles from any other publisher, according to Amazon. The problem is that the list price of the books could be as much as twice what it is on Amazon.

The controversy over stocking her books "just made me very sad," Pearl tells the Washington Post. It's interesting that booksellers would balk at Pearl, who cuts such a likable figure and whose "Book Lust" was a bestseller.

It's parent company Amazon that's the problem. "I don’t want to stock a book and have Amazon get the money,” Mark LaFramboise, chief buyer at the well-known Politics and Prose bookstore, told the Washington Post. Amazon, he says, wants "nothing other than our total annihilation."

But in a way, this helps Amazon, because those who want the books from Pearl's Book Lust Rediscoveries will have to buy them from the online bookseller. So far, her imprint has published four books: "A Gay and Melancholy Sound" by Merle Miller, first published in 1962; "After Life" by Rihann Ellis, first published in 2000; "Fool" by Frederick G. Dillen, first published in 1999; and, initially published in 1973, Elizabeth Savage's "The Last Night at the Ritz."

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Photo: Nancy Pearl with her deluxe action figure in 2005. Credit: The Seattle Times

Unhappy authors file class action suit against PublishAmerica

A trio of authors dissatisfied with the services of the company PublishAmerica have filed suit in Maryland against the company; they have asked the court to certify them and other authors as a class.

PublishAmerica is a major source for authors seeking to get published; on its website, it claims it has published books by 50,000 authors, and it maintains that it is a traditional publishing house, that it does not charge its authors fees. Yet it is untraditional in that it is print-on-demand -- which sounds a lot like a vanity press, or self-publishing. There's not anything wrong with that -- in fact, self-publishing is booming -- but a model that combines self-publishing features and traditional publishing can lead to some unmet expectations.

The Frederick [Maryland] News Post reports:

The plaintiffs claim the company misrepresents its services in its contracts with authors, which gives PublishAmerica the rights to their work for between seven and 10 years. Fees that authors paid ranged from less than $30 to several hundred dollars.

They allege that the publisher, among other things, charges for services that traditional publishers perform at no cost to promote and sell books, misrepresents the company's ability to get writers' work on bookstore shelves or into the hands of larger publishers or celebrities, and publishes books with little or no editing and then charges the authors to have corrections made.

One notable, unfulfillable promise involved J.K. Rowling, the creator of Harry Potter and one of the wealthiest writers in the world. PublishAmerica promoted a delegation's visit to Rowling's hometown and asked for $49 for the following:

“We will bring your book to the attention of Harry Potter’s author next week while our delegation is in her hometown, and ask her to read it and to tell us and you what she thinks. Tell her what you think: in the Ordering Instructions box write your own note for JK Rowling, max. 50-100 words. We will include your note in our presentation for her!”

Rowling's lawyers issued a cease and desist letter to the company and told Publishers Weekly that the claim of PublishAmerica having any involvement with Rowling was "completely false."

That is not the only time that PublishAmerica's offers to its authors have been the cause of concern: 267 were filed with the local Better Business Bureau in the last three years; the BBB has given PublishAmerica an F grade.

PublishAmerica responded to the Frederick News Post in a statement:

"Plaintiffs' claims are without any basis and we are confident that they will not hold up in court," the statement reads. "Plaintiffs' claims are directly contradicted by PublishAmerica's contracts, websites, its performance under its contracts, and the fact that 47,000 authors have happily joined PublishAmerica over the past 12 years, almost 15,000 of whom have also chosen PublishAmerica as the publisher of their next book.

"The claims distort the facts, omit relevant information, and in some cases are just plain false," according to the statement. "However, PublishAmerica will not litigate these claims in the media. Accordingly, it will respond to each allegation in due course during the litigation to the extent required by court procedure.

Which means for those curious about the fate of PublishAmerica and the unhappy authors, keep an eye on the court proceedings in Maryland.

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Image: Logo from the PublishAmerica website. Credit: PublishAmerica.

Kelly Link's 'Stranger Things Happen' returns in limited edition

The first collection of short stories by Kelly Link, "Stranger Things Happen," will be issued in a special edition this fall by Subterranean Press. Link, alongside Southern California's Aimee Bender, is a leading voice in the emergent genre of literary surrealist, speculative fiction.

"I'm assuming I'm not the only writer out there who loves both [H.P.] Lovecraft and Lorrie Moore," Link told the Times in 2008. "What I get when I write is some Lovecraft, plus some Lorrie Moore, hopefully plus a little of me in there as well. So it's about infinite recombinations."

"Stranger Things Happen" was initially released in 2001 by Small Beer Press, the publishing house founded by Link and her husband Gavin Grant, and it put both the writer and publisher on the map, and remains Small Beer's bestselling title. It's still in print, but as always, Small Beer Press sells it in paperback.

That will change with the new Subterranean Press edition of "Stranger Things Happen," which will be in hardcover. It will also feature new illustrations, by the artist Kathleen Jennings; that's her work on the cover, above.

The limited hardcover edition, a run of just 500 copies, will be $75. It comes with an 80-page hardcover chapbook with two previously uncollected short stories by Link. All special edition copies will be autographed by Link, and those ordered here can be personalized.

It's an interesting project -- readers can certainly pick up the more affordable paperback edition for $11.95, or the e-book for just $6.99. The new edition is for collectors, people who value the stories and want to see them in hardcover form, and who see value in a signed and numbered edition that is limited to 500 copies.

This is one of the ways that publishers can distinguish the print work they do from the e-books they issue, focusing on creating an object that's worth having. And Link's work seems a great place to start.

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Images: The cover of the new edition of "Stranger Things Happen"  and Kelly Link. Credit: Small Beer Press

The view from there: Wrap-ups of Book Expo America

Publishing's biggest annual conference, Book Expo America, has come to a close. According to most accounts, there was a new optimism in the much-beleaguered industry. Maybe it's because e-books are finally looking like a value-add, not a terrifying pirate ship. Maybe it's because Jimmy Fallon made some good jokes. It's kind of hard to tell from 3,000 miles away, so we're relying on the accounts of the event to get a sense of things. Here are some of the highlights:

Patti Smith interviewed Neil Young about his memoir, "Waging Heavy Peace," but she didn't just stick to books. “Books, albums,” she said, “they’re the same. People create things.” Ben Greenman writes the conversation up for the New Yorker. Young described the way their two books were similar: “I’m a highway and landscapes. You’re a city and painted bricks and lots of people. I’m travelling and you are, too, but I’m on the road and you’re travelling down streets.”

Industry rag Publishers Weekly has all its coverage in one place. It polled booksellers about fiction to look forward to, including new books from some big names: "Telegraph Avenue" by Michael Chabon, "This is How You Lose Her" by Junot Diaz, "Flight Behavior" by Barbara Kingsolver, and "Casada" by James Salter, who turns 87 on Saturday. They've also got their eyes on "Back to Blood," a novel by Tom Wolfe set in Miami, and the first book for adults by "Harry Potter" creator J.K. Rowling, a mystery titled "The Casual Vacancy." A buzzed-about debut is "Under the Shadow of the Banyan," a novel of hardship under the Khmer Rouge based on the real-life experiences of Cambodian-born Vaddey Ratner.

Children can look forward to another "Wimpy Kid" book from Jeff Kinney in November. Hungry people can get the first book from popular food blogger Deb Perelman, whose cookbook carries the same title as her blog, "The Smitten Kitchen."

One book promo went wrong: Two boats rowed into the Hudson River to promote a forthcoming book about historical reenactments; both capsized, plunging the conventioneers into 60-degree water. Everyone got out OK; chances are, they'll stick to the convention floor at Javits next year.

What's Javits like? "Inside, the Javits Center is like an airport with no scheduled departures and much more carpeting,"  Emily Gould writes at The Awl. "It is hot and cold, somehow, at the same time, and it smells like the sad turkey wraps you'll see hungry souls clutching as they crouch in the corners of the main convention floor eating hurriedly between meetings. There is not quite enough oxygen. It's actually a lot less like being in an airport, actually, than it is like being on a plane. But like being on a plane that, if you have been in or around the book industry in some professional capacity, is filled with everyone you have ever met in a professional capacity. So it's sort of like a high school reunion. On a plane. Ugh... it's like a giant trade show, okay? That's what it's like."

BEA tried a new day when it opened up the convention to members of the public; tickets were $45. It seems like a good idea, but it's an awkward fit: the business model has always been that publishers sell to bookstores, then bookstores sell to readers. Letting in consumer ticket buyers, who were dubbed "power readers," was something of a mixed success.

Los Angeles author Antoine Wilson's book "Panorama City" was selected for the coveted editors buzz book panel, in which just a handful of upcoming books are selected and touted to booksellers at the start of the conference. Here he is signing at the booth of his publisher,  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

As the floor is buzzing, BEA also puts on panel discussions. Ann and Jeff VanderMeer have edited a massive anthology called "The Weird," coming soon, and they appeared on a panel about science fiction and the mainstream with Walter Mosley and John Scalzi. Jeff got meta and did a write-up of the write-ups of the panel. The most intellectually lively panel in recent years has been 7x20x21, a rapid-fire set of presentations organized by Ami Greko of Kobo and Ryan Chapman of FSG; for those of us who couldn't make it, here's the video.

The creepiest note from the conference is news that a former murder suspect was cruising the floor looking for a publisher for his book -- about a murder very much like the one in which he'd been a suspect. If that rings a bell, no, he's not a former pro athlete. The hopeful author is 47-year-old Dimitry Sheinman, who became a suspect in the 2004 death of Juilliard student Sarah Fox after he came to police with information about the killing that had not been made public. Sheinman, who now lives in South Africa and goes by the name Victor, says he has learned the name of the killer in a psychic vision. His book is titled, "Is He Friendly?"

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Photo: Jimmy Fallon at Book Expo 2012. Credit: D. Dipasupil/Getty Images

Amazon Publishing buys Avalon, gets 3,000 squeaky-clean titles

On Monday, Amazon Publishing announced that it had purchased Avalon Books, a 62-year-old publisher. The acquisition means that Amazon Publishing has just added 3,000 titles to its list.

Avalon is an independent publisher that has focused on specific genres. In the past, that included science fiction. Now it primarily publishes mysteries, westerns and romance. While romance is hot right now -- hot and heavy, like "50 Shades of Grey" -- these novels are anything but. The books Avalon has published are, it writes, "good stories and wholesome entertainment."

How good and how wholesome? Very good. Very wholesome. "There is no explicit sexual content or profanity in any of our novels," Avalon states in its writers guidelines. "It is the author’s responsibility to heighten the romantic atmosphere by developing love scenes with tenderness, emotion, and perception."

In other words, none of that "50 Shades of Grey"-style hanky-panky.

From the FAQ regarding manuscript submissions:

Q. WHAT IS TOO SEXY FOR AVALON?
A. Sexual tension is fine but not more than a kiss or embrace is allowed.

Q. WHAT ARE THE RULES ON ROUGH LANGUAGE?
A. No cursing throughout all of our books. Nothing heavier than a “hell,” “damn” in Westerns and Mysteries. We don’t like cursing at all in our romances. We do not accept racial epithets, no harsh language, and no sexy talk.

Q. WHAT ARE THE RULES ON LIQUOR?
A. In our Romances keep it minimal, if any. In our Westerns and Mysteries it is okay within reason.

The writers guidelines go further in describing what kinds of characters and content are appropriate for Avalon.

AVALON ROMANCES / HEROINES: Every Avalon heroine should be an independent young woman with an interesting profession or career. She is equal to the stresses of today’s world and can take care of herself. She should be smart, capable, and likable.

AVALON ROMANCES / HEROES: Avalon heroes should be warm, likable, realistic, sympathetic, understanding men who treat the heroine as an equal, with respect for her intelligence and individuality, and with courtesy. The hero should be a fully-realized character, someone the reader can warm up to and be happy to see with the heroine.

AVALON MYSTERIES / HEROES: The hero can be male or female or a team of people with sound values. The hero must be someone for whom the truth is paramount.

AVALON WESTERNS / HEROES: The hero must be a strong individual with sound values. He’s excellent with his fists and his gun, but not overeager to use either.

There are no guidelines for heroines of Avalon Mysteries or Avalon Westerns; I assume there are none.

"Avalon has a long tradition in publishing wonderful stories that affirm a positive way of life," said Amazon Publishing's Philip Patrick, director of business development, rights and licensing. "We are thrilled to have these talented writers join our publishing program."

Other than squeaky-clean content, Avalon had something else going for it: None of its books has been published in e-book form. Yet.

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University of Missouri Press to close, after 54 years

The University of Missouri Press, founded in 1958, will close up shop, university system President Timothy M. Wolfe announced Thursday. In its 54 years in operation, it has published approximately 2,000 titles.

The University of Missouri Press has published books on the topics of American and world history; intellectual history; biography; journalism; African American studies; women's studies; American, British, and Latin American literary criticism; political science, particularly philosophy and ethics; regional studies of the American heartland; and creative nonfiction. It has hosted a lecture series. Its published nonfiction series includes "The Collected Works of Langston Hughes" and "Mark Twain and His Circle." A recent release is "On Soldiers and Statesmen" by John S.D. Eisenhower, son of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

In 2009, the press' staff was cut almost in half. According to Missouri's Columbia Daily Tribune, 10 employees will be affected when operations begin shutting down in July; the press' staff reportedly had been unaware of the coming closure before Thursday morning.

When the recession hit in 2008, it adversely affected many state budgets and put many university presses on the chopping block. In 2009, the Louisiana State University Press was among them, but it survived after a public show of support, although with significant budget cuts. The following year, Eastern Washington University, the University of Scranton and Southern Methodist University announced the closure of their presses. Last year, the University of California Press announced it would stop publishing its poetry series.

The University of Missouri's provost, Brian Foster, explained that the university is hoping to find new ways to invest in scholarly communications:

"Technological changes have turned media up on their head, and that's turning scholarly communication on its head," he said. "It's more than publishing a book; it's a much broader change."

Communication, he said, is "central to successful research, but given how the system is in such fundamental change, we just don't know where it's going."

The path forward may be hard to discern. Rice University launched a digital-only scholarly publishing venture in 2006 -- which it closed down in 2010. "The demise of the project," wrote Inside Higher Ed at the time, "led to immediate speculation about whether the Rice experience suggested difficulties for the economic model or if other factors may have been decisive."

An exact closing date for the University of Missouri Press has not yet been announced.

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