Posted April 15, 2002

” Guardian article Cusack Set for Runaway Jury John Cusack is said to be on board to star as the jury foreman in the film version of John Grisham’s THE RUNAWAY JURY (the defendants are now gun manufacturers rather than tobacco companies), Variety reports. Mulholland Drive’s Naomi Watts is “considered the front-runner to play the female lead.

Posted April 11, 2002

Today you’ll find everything from foreign and film rights to Afghan/American Tamim Ansary’s highly praised book that grew out of a passionate post 9/11 e-mail explaining his homeland to an exhaustive report “on those who make the ultimate decisions on violence in the media, with unbiased interviews from contrasting perspectives,” from a Marketplace member who has landed Joel Gotler at AMG as an agent after first posting her page here.

Posted April 10, 2002

Today’s Deals Once again, there are plenty: another book on the Catholic Church sex scandal, film rights to a book in the Cold Mountain vein (and a UK sale for Charles Frazier), a big audio deal, two large sales for unusual books from establish mystery writers, a former CIA staffer’s book on the brewing confrontation with Iraq — plus a whole lot more, with new deals reported live regularly, for members of PublishersMarketplace.

Posted April 9, 2002

That’s what I worry about.” Liev Schreiber, who optioned film rights to the book, observes, “I figured it was written by some brilliant, scatological 75-year-old man. We have a very similar sense of humor. We’re both degenerate in the same way.” 3. And finally, there’s also a story about agent Arielle Eckstut and her fiance/client David Sterry, 13 years older than she, and the author of a memoir about his seven months as a male prostitute when he was a teenager.

Posted April 8, 2002

They put the price for the new novel at $8.25 million, and say that producer Scott Rudin paid over $3 million for film rights. Newsweek article Reverand to SMP Another former imprint head is coming back to big house publishing as an editor; this time it’s Diane Reverand, most recently head of Harper’s former Cliff Street Books imprint. As first tipped by Publishing Trends, she is joining St. Martin’s, as executive editor, beginning this week.

Posted April 5, 2002

a biography of the man who would be king, a new home for a hot young novelist, the return of the Eades, Jeff Gordon’s seven-figure deal, Carl Hiassen’s latest film and TV successes, and more, reported live during the day at PublishersMarketplace.com. To stay on top of the latest deal news, join us now. Register here to view the deals, search our 2,000+ deal database, and get an optional daily deal e-mail See all the latest deals Rudy’s Delay The NY Post confirms

Posted April 2, 2002

Deal Lunch, including a collection of papers from seven generations of women that the editor declares “The book I believe I was meant to edit,” plus a film pick-up for a long-optioned, 20-year-old book, plus more reported live during the day. Register here to view the deals, search our 2,000+ deal database, and get an optional daily deal e-mail See all the latest deals Patchett Takes PEN/Faulkner The often-nominated BEL CANTO by Ann Patchett finally won a prize

Posted March 29, 2002

New Deals An unusual film deal for Michael Chabon, a few literary fiction sales, and more all the time, at PublishersMarketplace.com Register here to view the deals, search our 2,000+ deal database, and get an optional daily deal e-mail See all the latest deals May/June 76 The “preview” of the Book Sense 76 for May/June is now posted. Due to a wealth of appealing candidates, a separate Summer Paperback 76 will be issued covering May through July.

Posted March 28, 2002

Nanny Agencies in the US in 1983; an award-winning LA journalist has a biography of tennis player Pancho Gonzalez, the “first Latino sports hero,” (with film rights already said to be in discussion), celebrity journalist Ian Caddell culls 20 years worth of interviews with hundreds of stars in Tupac Shakur Died For Your Sins & Other Stories From The Trenches of Celebrity Journalism, and lots more.

Posted March 27, 2002

com. Chabon’s Move As you probably know Michael Chabon’s HATZEPLATZ (already licensed to Scott Rudin for film rights) and a book of stories, are moving to Clive Priddle at Fourth Estate in the US, for more than $2 million according to press reports (over $2.5 mil according to the NY Daily News), sold by Mary Evans.

Posted March 19, 2002

com Report a deal using the online form Chabon Auction Rising The auction for Michael Chabon’s HATZEPLATZ (already licensed to Scott Rudin for film rights) and a book of stories has gone past $2.5 million, at least according to the account in the NY Daily News. Paul Colford says that Talk Miramax, Little, Brown, and Harper are the remaining bidders.

Posted March 15, 2002

com, and anyone can look for free. Just some of the latest: A “voodoo whodunit” inspired in part by mysterious events that plagued the filming of The Exorcist, an award-winning author’s (and former soldier and intelligence officer) eyewitness account of the bloody Hmong fight for freedom against the communist regime in Laos in the 1970s, plus foreign rights offerings to a number of books already well-placed in the US, and more.

Posted March 14, 2002

The Latest Deals Judy Blume will write her first new Fudge book in 12 years, and the backlist Fudge titles get a new home, plus a big film deal for MANHUNT, a US home for CHEET, and more. Register here to view the deals, search our 2,000+ deal database, and get an optional daily deal e-mail See all the latest deals Perseus Buys Running Press The Perseus Publishing Group is acquiring Running Press, to create what our friends in the film business might call a

Posted March 12, 2002

The Latest Deals and New Features More deals already, including Bill Mechanic’s high six-figure fiction buy, another film buy for Walter Dean Myers, a home for the ex-Eagles guitarist, a high-priced deal for novelist Dani Shapiro, and more. Register here to view the deals (and get an optional daily deal e-mail) See all the latest deals Appeals Court Says Rosetta Can Keep Operating as Random Pursues Case Rosetta Books can continue to operate while Random House pursues

Posted March 8, 2002

Since then, the publisher has collected $250,000 in foreign rights sales to 12 foreign publishers, and they sold rights to Penguin for about $300,000. Along the way there was almost a second volume of Keith’s maxims. Editor Joann Davis though the poem called Anyway was in the public domain, and created her own book rooted around the same 10 primary sayings, which her former employer Warner Books had scheduled for publication next month under the title ANYWAY: The Little

Posted March 7, 2002

Myers to Play Cat in the Hat Mike Myers — who certainly knows how to have lots of good fun that is funny — will star in Imagine Entertainment’s live-action film version of THE CAT IN THE HAT, produced in partnership with Universal and Dreamworks. Variety says the film version will also introduce new characters into the story (I’m still waiting to see who is cast as Things 1 and 2).

Posted March 4, 2002

” Now Mel Gibson has bought the film rights, saying on the air, “It’s a very compelling little journey. It’s dark and almost funny. It will work.” According to this article, the book is currently in short supply. O’Reilly item Was Phyllis Right? In reporting annual results earlier today, Pearson indicated the company took a “non-cash charge of 153 million pounds, mostly relating to the acquisition of Dorling Kindersley,” the Financial Times reports.

Posted February 28, 2002

reissued her first three Ripley novels in hardcover, and Norton has a selection of stories in print — as producer Arnold Kopelson is moving forward with a new film version of STRANGERS ON A TRAIN for Warner Bros. after seven years of development. (Alfred Hitchcock filmed it first in 1951; Once You Kiss a Stranger as the 1969 remake, and apparently it was the inspiration for Throw Momma From the Train as well.

Posted February 13, 2002

A Woman’s Guide to Finding Her Inner French Girl, and more — plus find out about the UK novel that just went to Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella for film rights but has yet to be sold in the U.S. The latest rights board proposal that caught my eye was a published author’s pitch for a literary novel about famed inventor Nikola Tesla, pitched as the next Beautiful Mind. There’s lots more that might catch your eye.

Posted February 8, 2002

AMG’s David McIlvaine is representing film rights. A NOVEL OF THE EARTH’S LAST DAYS is the first in the series. Variety home Chicago Picks Wiesel The Chicago Public Library will announce today the selection of Elie Wiesel’s autobiographical novel NIGHT, about “a devout Jewish teenager who is lacerated with guilt after surviving the death camps in which his family members died,” as the next title in the One Book, One Chicago program, scheduled for April.