Random House

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Largest US Publisher, Authors Sue Iowa Over Book Ban

Law that governor says protects children from pornography has been applied to '1984,' 'The Color Purple'

(Newser) - The nation's largest publisher and several bestselling authors, including novelists John Green and Jodi Picoult, are part of a lawsuit filed Thursday challenging Iowa's new law that forbids public school libraries and classrooms to stock practically any book that depicts sexual activity. The lawsuit is the second in the...

Owner Gives Up on Publishing Merger Blocked by Court

Penguin Random House planned to buy Simon & Schuster for $2.2B

(Newser) - Simon & Schuster's corporate parent announced Monday it has officially ended the agreement for Penguin Random House to purchase the publisher. The company had said it would appeal a court ruling last month blocking the deal. The parent, Paramount Global, still intends to sell Simon & Schuster, the AP...

Barrett's Book Gets a Scathing Literary Reaction

In open letter, literati blast publisher, SCOTUS justice over 'fundamental human right' of abortion

(Newser) - Not everyone is thrilled about Amy Coney Barrett's upcoming book , including a couple hundred literary notables who've signed a scathing open letter to her publisher. The Guardian reports on the letter —titled "We Dissent" and signed by close to 250 "members of the writing, publishing,...

Stephen King Will Be Star Witness in Publishing Antitrust Trial

Government is trying to block merger of two of publishing's 'Big Five'

(Newser) - The government and publishing titan Penguin Random House exchanged opening salvos in a federal antitrust trial Monday as the US seeks to block the biggest US book publisher from absorbing rival Simon & Schuster. The case comes as a key test of the Biden administration’s antitrust policy, the AP...

Good Luck Burning This $130K Copy of The Handmaid's Tale

Fire-resistant book is a form of protest against recent book bans

(Newser) - Margaret Atwood took a flamethrower to a copy of her bestseller The Handmaid's Tale to show that "powerful words can never be extinguished." Note it was a one-of-a-kind "unburnable" copy that just sold at a Sotheby's auction for $130,000. Publisher Penguin Random House created...

DOJ Doesn't Want Publishing's 'Big Five' Becoming 'Big Four'

Files antitrust suit to stop major book publisher merger

(Newser) - The Justice Department is suing to block a $2.2 billion book publishing deal that would have reshaped the industry, saying consolidation would hurt authors and, ultimately, readers, the AP reports. German media giant Bertelsmann's Penguin Random House, already the largest American publisher, wants to buy New York-based Simon...

Big 5 of American Publishing Could Soon Shrink to 4

Penguin to buy Simon & Schuster

(Newser) - German media giant Bertelsmann said Wednesday that its Penguin Random House division is buying rival Simon & Schuster in a megadeal that would reshape the US publishing industry. Penguin Random House, already the largest American publisher, will buy the New York-based Simon & Schuster, whose authors include Stephen King, Hillary...

Kaepernick Just Signed, but Not With NFL: Report

Page Six says he's inked a $1M book deal

(Newser) - Colin Kaepernick has so far failed to secure a new NFL contract, but he's reportedly just landed a major book deal. A day after reporting that Kaepernick was seen meeting with publishers at the New York offices of talent agency WME, Page Six reports the athlete has nabbed a...

4 Lost Dr. Seuss Stories Coming Out

The 1950s tales feature Horton and an early version of the Grinch

(Newser) - Horton heard a Who—and his ears might be ringing right now with the news that he's about to make a comeback. Random House is republishing four Dr. Seuss stories on Sept. 9 that haven't been seen since the 1950s, when they first made their appearance in Redbook...

Fifty Shades of Grey Makes History for Random House

Sold 70M copies last year, a record for publisher

(Newser) - Now we know why Random House gave every one of its employees a $5,000 bonus last year: The Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy by EL James sold more than 70 million copies in print, ebook, and audio formats, reports the Wall Street Journal . That makes it the fastest-selling series...

Random House, Penguin to Merge

Some literary agents concerned

(Newser) - Random House, already the biggest consumer book publisher in the English-speaking world, will get even bigger next year after a planned merger with Penguin. The plans, rumored last week, were confirmed today by the media companies that own the two publishing divisions, Bertelsmann and Pearson. Bertelsmann, the Random House owner,...

Dragon Tattoo Cover a Good Story, Too

After dozens of attempts, artist arrived at distinctive design

(Newser) - It's everywhere you look—at the beach, on the subway, in the waiting room. Americans are devouring The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and the bestselling novel's distinctive cover has a pretty good story of its own, reports the Wall Street Journal . Designer Peter Mendelsund went through dozens of possibilities,...

Beck to Publisher: Call Off Palin 'Stalker' or I'll Boycott

Random House should get Joe McGinniss out of house next door

(Newser) - Glenn Beck feels Sarah Palin's pain about new next-door neighbor/biographer Joe McGinniss, and he's making use of some of his not inconsiderable clout to make him go away. Beck thinks McGinniss' move is creepy, and tantamount to stalking—she calls it "a nightmare"—the better to work on...

Lost Symbol Sets Record for Random House

Brown's DaVinci Code sequel has stunning first-week sales of 2M+

(Newser) - Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code sequel sold more than 2 million English-language copies in its first week, a Doubleday spokesman tells Publisher’s Weekly, making it the best debut Doubleday—or, for that matter, parent company Random House—has ever had. “The book is exceeding our expectations,”...

Jenny Sanford to Pen 'Inspirational Memoir'

Ballantine Books won't disclose fee for May 2010 release

(Newser) - Jenny Sanford will write an “inspirational memoir” to be released by Random House next spring, CNN reports. The publisher is mum on how much the estranged wife of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford will get for her trouble. The fairer half of the couple has been fairly tight-lipped since...

Intern Who Had Affair With JFK to Pen Memoir

(Newser) - The former lover of John F. Kennedy exposed in 2003 has a deal with Random House to write a memoir, the New York Times reports. Mimi Beardsley worked as a White House intern and had an 18-month affair with the president from 1962 to 1963, starting when she was 19....

Check It Out: Bush Strikes $7M Book Deal

(Newser) - The Decider, aka George W. Bush, will write a book titled Decision Points, the New York Post reports. The former president's rumored advance for the book, due out in 2010, is $7 million. That’s $5 million short of Bill Clinton’s deal for My Life, $1 million less than...

Kathy Griffin Lands $2M Memoir Deal
Kathy Griffin Lands $2M Memoir Deal
Feb 24, 2009 1:28 PM CST

Kathy Griffin Lands $2M Memoir Deal

Work-in-progress fetches not-so-D-list price at auction

(Newser) - Kathy Griffin’s upcoming memoir may propel her up from life on the D-list, after the work-in-progress fetched more than $2 million at auction, the New York Observer reports. The comic has earned devoted fans for her turns on Suddenly Susan and My Life on the D-List. Her literary agent,...

Grisham Shelves His Opposition to E-Books

Author nears deal to offer 22 bestsellers for Kindle, other readers

(Newser) - One of publishing's last major holdouts has decided it's time to kill his opposition to e-books, reports the Wall Street Journal. John Grisham is close to finalizing a deal that would make all of his 22 bestsellers—including new legal thriller The Associate—available for Amazon's Kindle reader and all...

US Publisher Yanks Novel on Mohammed

Random House feared violence over work on prophet's child bride

(Newser) - Random House has pulled a book about the life of Mohammed due to be published this week, Reuters reports. The company feared that The Jewel of  Medina, a historical novel and love story about Mohammed and Aisha—a child bride who was engaged to the prophet when she was 6—...

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