Monday, August 17, 2009

Penguin Announces The Publication Of Nick Hornby's Latest Novel

Penguin has announced the publication of Juliet, Naked, the long awaited novel from Nick Hornby, which sees him return to the music world and will be released by Viking in hardback.

Juliet, Naked, Nick's latest novel for adults after a four year wait since A Long Way Down, is about the nature of creativity and obsession, and how two lonely people can gradually find each other.

Juliet, Naked tells the story of Annie and Duncan, a mid-thirties couple whose shared interest in musician Tucker Crowe brings them together before ultimately splitting them apart.

Tony Lacey, Nick's editor at Penguin, said: "Fans of Hornby's High Fidelity will doubtless be delighted to learn that his next novel takes him back into the music world, though nowhere near the north London of Fever Pitch. His protagonist is a reclusive 80s rock star who is forced out of isolation when the release of a stripped-down version of his most famous album brings him into contact with some of his most passionate fans. Set in America and Lincolnshire, the novel tells the story of two lonely people finding each other across decades and continents."

Nick Hornby was born in 1957. He is the author of five previous novels, High Fidelity, About a Boy, How To Be Good, A Long Way Down (shortlisted for the Whitbread Award) and Slam; three works of non-fiction, Fever Pitch (winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award), 31 Songs (shortlisted for the National Books Critics Circle Award) and The Complete Polysyllabic Spree; and a Pocket Penguin book of short stories, Otherwise Pandemonium. He recently wrote the screenplay for the film An Education, which won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival and is due for release in the UK in October 2009. Nick Hornby lives and works in Highbury, north London.

Penguin will publish Juliet, Naked in September 2009, adding to the complete list of Nick Hornby books already available on the Penguin website, as well as the blog which Nick updates.

Penguin Announce Publication Of Vladimir Nabokov's Final Novel

Penguin has announced the publication of "The Original of Laura," the final book by novelist Vladimir Nabokov, a novel which has been the source of much anxiety and contention for Nabokov's fans and his family.

The Original of Laura which exists on 138 index cards, was complete in Nabokov's mind, though he died before he could translate his vision onto paper. He asked for the manuscript to be destroyed, so his wife Vera, and later his son Dmitri, faced an agonising choice whether to publish the book or not. After three decades in a Swiss vault, "The Original of Laura", an extraordinarily beautiful novel, unprecedented in structure and style, will be published for the first time.

In Dmitri's introduction to his father's last novel, he recalls that it was only chance that saved an earlier book, "Lolita", from the incinerator. He has been guided by the precedent of that other book's survival in choosing to see "The Original of Laura" published.

Dmitri Nabokov, the son of Vladimir said: "When the task passed to me, I did a great deal of thinking. I have said and written more than once that, to me, my parents, in a sense, had never died, but lived on, looking over my shoulder in a kind of virtual limbo, available to offer a thought or counsel in order to assist me with a vital decision, were it a crucial mot juste or some more mundane concern. I decided at this juncture, that, in putative retrospect, Nabokov would not have wanted me to allow a new "Juanita Dark" - for that was an early working title of "Lolita", destined for cremation - to burn like a latter-day Jeanne d'Arc."

Penguin is celebrating all Vladimir Nabokov's writing in three tranches with beautiful new jackets for the entire backlist.

Penguin will publish "The Original of Laura", as well as Nabokov's other titles about childhood and young love in November 2009, with the author's experimental novels and nonfiction, including a collection of unpublished poems to follow in spring 2010. Nabokov's satirical works and a previously unpublished collection of letters to his wife will be published in autumn 2010.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Penguin to launch a site for 'And Another Thing,' the sixth Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy book

Penguin is to launch a new website with Block Interactive to support and promote the publication of 'And Another Thing', the sixth book in the Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy 'double trilogy.'

Block Interactive has beaten leading digital agencies to secure a contract with Penguin to create a pan-galactic, pan-publisher website at http://www.6of3.com, which will promote the Autumn publication of 'And Another Thing' by international number-one bestselling author Eoin Colfer.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has been heard on radio, seen on TV and enjoyed on the big screen, there was even a musical version. Now fans can look forward to the sixth instalment of the science fiction comedy series by visiting the website.

The new site will support and promote the 'And Another Thing's' publication and marketing campaign, providing news, reviews, features and competitions as well as details on both global and local events. Most importantly, it will bring together the voices of legions of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy fans using inclusive social networking and innovative Twitter-based features, as well as a Flash game and a range of archive material stolen from the The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy vaults (found mouldering in a cellar, using a torch because the lights had gone, in a locked filing cabinet, in a disused lavatory, with a sign on the door saying 'beware of the leopard').

Penguin will launch the site early September 2009 to coincide with the October 2009 release of 'And Another Thing.'

Harvard University Press to Sell Nearly 1,000 Digital Books on Scribd

Scribd, the world's largest social publishing company, today announced that it has signed a deal with Harvard University Press (HUP) to sell nearly 1,000 digital books through the Scribd Store, a recently launched e-commerce marketplace for written works. HUP joins other university presses such as New York University Press and MIT Press that are already offering free previews of books and reports to Scribd's readership of millions. The Harvard announcement comes a month after the company announced a similar deal with publishing powerhouse Simon & Schuster.

"Scribd's goal is to collect all the world's written information -- whether for free or for purchase -- in one place and then make those works available to as many people as possible," said Trip Adler, CEO and co-founder of Scribd and a Harvard alum. "Harvard University Press has brought to light some of the world's most thought-provoking ideas in the form of printed books. We are thrilled to bring this amazing content to a much larger potential community of information seekers."

Examples of the variety of books and reports currently available through university presses and schools on Scribd include:

-- The Boy Who Would be a Helicopter (HUP)

-- The Civic Potential of Video Games (MIT Press)

-- Hooking Up: The Campus as a Sexual Arena (NYU Press)

-- McGill University Daily News Magazine (McGill University)

-- Bethel Regional Jr. High School paper (Bethel Jr. High)

"Our goal is to get our books in front of as many people as possible; Scribd helps us reach readers who prefer to read online and on digital devices," said Daniel Lee, director of digital content at Harvard University Press.

The majority of content available on Scribd includes original works -- such as short stories, research reports and recipes -- contributed by its community. Professional publishers offering free and for-purchase books and other written works include Simon & Schuster, O'Reilly, Berrett-Koehler, Lonely Planet, and The World Bank. Books offered by HUP are available immediately on Scribd and can be found through searches in the Scribd Store or by keyword, title, author or other identifyers. A sampling of HUP books can be found for a limited time at www.scribd.com/store.

Monday, August 03, 2009

Harlequin Launches Harlequin TEEN

Harlequin Enterprises has launched Harlequin TEEN, a new fiction imprint for young adults. The timely launch comes during a period when young adult fiction is one of the rare sectors to buck the recent slump experienced by most publishers and book retailers. Romance fiction, a genre in which Harlequin is a notable market leader, is another sector that has thrived despite the recession. Many booksellers, such as Borders and Barnes & Noble, have created teen sections in their stores to capitalize on the trend.

Harlequin TEEN launches with titles by three New York Times bestselling authors in 2009. Rachel Vincent's My Soul to Take (August) stars a teenager who discovers that she is a banshee. Intertwined by Gena Showalter (September) features a teen who learns that he has four souls living inside him. The protagonist of P.C. Cast's Elphame's Choice (October) is a young half human, half centaur who sets out to make her own way in the world. Cast is the author of the popular young adult House of Night vampire series with her daughter Kristin. Rachel Vincent has also penned My Soul to Lose, an eBook prequel to her launch title. It is available for free download at www.SoulScreamers.com.

"These books feature teen protagonists, which is not something Harlequin has traditionally done," says Harlequin TEEN senior editor, Natashya Wilson. "Most readers have come to us as young girls and had to 'read up' to the editorial. However, Harlequin TEEN stories are specifically written for teenage readers. Harlequin publishes a wide range of books for women, and Harlequin TEEN ensures that teens and young women also get the opportunity to share in great entertainment and a rewarding reading experience."

Harlequin TEEN will have a full publishing program in place by 2010 and expects to publish 12 to 14 titles in that calendar year. Many of the novels will feature paranormal, fantasy and science fiction elements. The target demographic is girls ages 13 to 18. "Younger women are a natural extension of our core readership," says Margaret Marbury, Harlequin's director of single titles, "and we want to offer them tales -- not necessarily romances -- that appeal to them."

Harlequin has some experience in the young adult marketplace. The publisher successfully launched the Kimani TRU line in 2007, targeting African-American teens.

Harlequin TEEN's Web site, www.harlequinTEEN.com, allows readers to find out more about titles by reading excerpts, posting their own reviews, watching book trailers -- or in the case of Rachel Vincent, downloading the free eBook prequel, My Soul to Lose.