Latest in Book Publishing

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, out on bail after an arrest for an alleged sex crime, has made a deal to write his memoirs for Random House’s Alfred A. Knopf label, and UK’s Canongate Books. More territorial sales will bring in additional revenue for a guy who has become a world famous figure reviled on Capitol…

The last thing higher-ups from major studios want from their creative executives is for them to go public with their experiences in the trenches. The notable exception is DeVon Franklin, a Sony Pictures Entertainment exec who is writing a book about his journey that will be published next year by Simon & Schuster’s…

It was pretty much inevitable – after Glee music albums, tours and merchandise, now comes a Glee comic book. Fame: The Cast Of Glee, from Bluewater Prods., “takes a close look at the lives of the actors and creative talent” behind the hit Fox dramedy, including the cast and co-creator/executive producer Ryan Murphy…

EXCLUSIVE: After cranking out three bestsellers, E! Entertainment Chelsea Lately host Chelsea Handler has taken the next step forward. She has been given her own imprint by her publisher, the Hachette Book Group USA division Grand Central Publishing. The imprint, called Borderline Amazing/A Chelsea Handler Book, will…

More lucrative extensions for HBO’s flagship series True Blood. HBO will release a True Blood graphic novel, True Blood, Vol.1: All Together Now. on February 8, 2011. It is a compilation of the six issues from the first True Blood comic book series plus bonus content. Since debuting in July, the True Blood comic…

David Rosenthal is starting a new imprint at Penguin Group USA. Rosenthal was displaced from a long run atop Simon & Schuster by Twelve editor Jonathan Karp early this year. Rosenthal will publish between 24 and 36 books per year, he told the New York Times.

Galgos Entertainment partners Russell Nuce and Mark Bozek have acquired screen rights to Here Lies Bridget, the debut novel by 21-year old author Paige Harbison. The book’s being published on January 25 by Harlequin Teen. The heroine, Bridget Duke, rules her high school but when she crashes her car and ends up in…

EXCLUSIVE: Scott Rudin Productions has acquired screen rights to David Levithan and Rachel Cohn’s new novel Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares, and has attached Tiny Furniture writer/director/star Lena Dunham to write the script and direct. Rudin, who’ll  produce, hasn’t yet set it yet at a studio. Levithan and Cohn…

Just in time for the upcoming elections, former President George W. Bush breaks his silence on his upcoming book Decision Points. The official pub date is November 9 through Crown Publishers, with a first printing of 1.5 million copies. Here’s the video that has just gone up on the Random House…

BREAKING: The e-book rift between Random House Worldwide chairman Markus Dohle and lit agent Andrew Wylie really is in the past history books. The duo has formalized a far-reaching deal to publish a memoir by Salman Rushdie. The book will be published in 2012 and will cover the Booker Prize-winning author’s entire…

(New York, October 20, 2010) Jon Meacham, the former editor of Newsweek magazine and the Pulitzer Prize–winning and bestselling author of AMERICAN LION, is joining the staff of the Random House Publishing Group as Executive Vice President and Executive Editor. His appointment, effective January 3, 2011, was announced…

EXCLUSIVE: ICM has hired Nick Harris to co-head its books-to-film department in the agency's Los Angeles office. Harris and Josie Freedman will co-head the department, which also includes veteran agent Ron Bernstein. Harris is expected to join the agency on November 1st. A 10-year veteran of the film and television…