Novelist Lauren Weisberger has landed a book deal for a sequel to her bestselling 2003 novel, The Devil Wears Prada. Simon & Schuster will publish Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns in April 2013.

U.K. rights for the book went to HarperFictionUK. ICM agent Sloan Harris negotiated the U.S. deal and Curtis Brown agent Vivienne Schuster handled the U.K. deal. Here’s more about the book, from the release:

Eight years after saying goodbye to Runway, and escaping the clutches of Miranda Priestly, it seems as though Andrea “Andy” Sachs has the perfect life. The lowly assistant is herself now tabloid fodder. She edits The Plunge, the hottest bridal magazine on newsstands, and works side-by-side with Emily, her old Runway colleague and new BFF.  Andy is madly in love with Max, a dashing scion of a storied media company, and planning to tie the knot.  But Andy is still haunted by her days at Runway, and the specter of Miranda Priestly.  Andy can hardly know that all her efforts to build a bright new life will lead her directly to the one she fled — and into the path of Miranda. (Photo via Julie Brothers)

Digital publisher Open Road Integrated Media is releasing the works of British writer Lawrence Durrell digitally, just in time for the 100th anniversary of his birth. For the first time, 28 of the author’s works will be available to read as eBooks. This includes The Alexandria Quartet, a series of novels from the late fifties and early sixties set in Egypt during World War II.

As with other Open Road releases, the eBooks will include new content including introductions by the likes of Jan Morris, DBC Pierre and Henry Miller. In addition, the books will feature exclusive photos as well as an illustrated biography of Durrell. Read more

Want to write a novel this summer? You should take the Camp NaNoWriMo challenge in June or August.

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) takes place every November, but the Office of Letters and Light (the nonprofit behind NaNoWriMo, Script Frenzy and the Young Writers Program) wanted to give writers an alternative time for the writing challenge.

Follow this link to sign up: “Why: The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era’s most enchanting art forms! To write without having to obsess over quality. To be able to make obscure references to passages from our novels at parties. To be able to mock real novelists who dawdle on and on, taking far longer than 30 days to produce their work. When: You can sign up anytime to add your name to the roster. Writing begins 12:00:01 AM on June 1, and again on August 1. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach the 50,000-word mark by 11:59:59 PM on the last day of the month. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the partying begins.”

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Novelist Madeline Miller has won the 2012 Orange Prize for Fiction with her debut novel, The Song of Achilles. Miller accepted her award at a London ceremony along with a £30,000 cash prize (approximately $46,521 USD) and the “Bessie,” a limited edition bronze figurine.

Miller spent ten years writing The Song of Achilles prior to its release. In addition to her writing career, she also serves as a Latin teacher. Past winners of this award include Barbara Kingsolver‘s The Lacuna (2010), Zadie Smith‘s On Beauty (2006) and Ann Patchett‘s Bel Canto (2002).

The judging committee included writer Joanna Trollope, novelist Lisa Appignanesi, journalist Victoria Derbyshire, writer Natalie Haynes and broadcaster Natasha Kaplinsky. Chair Trollope gave this statement in the release: “This is a more than worthy winner – original, passionate, inventive and uplifting. Homer would be proud of her.”

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When asked about the bestselling success of E. L. James‘ Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy (a series that began as Twilight fan fiction) Twilight creator Stephenie Meyer told MTV News: “Good on her — she’s doing well. That’s great!”

In the short video interview embedded above, the novelist admitted she hadn’t read the erotica bestseller, but wished her old fan luck. Even though the book has its roots in fan fiction, Meyer said James would have been a writer no matter what inspired her. Here’s more from MTV:

“Fifty Shades” follows the sadomasochistic affair of college graduate Ana Steele and dominant billionaire Christian Grey … Christian represents Edward Cullen, a brooding, self-deprecating and impossibly good-looking man with a few secrets, while Ana is an adaptation of the clumsy and shy Bella Swan. Without Meyer’s novel, “Fifty Shades” might not exist. “It might not exist in the exact form that it’s in,” Meyer said. “Obviously, [James] had a story in her, and so it would’ve come out in some other way.” (Via Book Riot)

Caldecott Medal winner Leo Dillon has passed away. He was 79-years-old.

Dillon (pictured, via) illustrated more than 50 children’s books with his wife, Diane Dillon. The books included Verna Aardena‘s picture book, Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears. The Dillons later branched out into writing as well. Blue Sky Press, an imprint of Scholastic, will release the Dillons’ current project, If Kids Ran the World, in 2014.

Here’s more from his publisher: “As illustrators, designers, and craftsmen, the Dillons comment on a ‘third artist’ who emerges as the combination of the two of them. In 2002, they published the first picture book they wrote themselves, Rap a Tap Tap: Here’s Bojangles—Think of That!, followed by Jazz on a Saturday Night (2007). As well, they collaborated with their son, sculptor Lee Dillon, on their award­-winning title Pish, Posh, Said Hieronymus Bosch, by Newbery Medalist Nancy Willard, an ALA Notable Book and a Parents’ Choice Honor Book.”

Digital book distributor OverDrive has revealed plans for a new browser-based digital reading platform called OverDrive Read.

AppNewser has more: “The platform, which is based in HTML5 and EPUB, allows readers to read eBooks without having to install an app. Instead readers can access the books using a web browser while on or offline.” Using the platform, publishers can create a URL for each title. This link can include book previews and review copies, as well as browsing capabilities and sample chapters.

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The stigma around self-publishing is beginning to go away. Now that authors have many of the tools for designing, editing and producing books, as well as marketing themselves, some authors question if working with a publisher is really worth it.

For author David Thorne, self-publishing has proven to be more profitable than working with a traditional publisher. In March Thorne self-published I’ll Go Home Then; It’s Warm and Has Chairs using Lulu.com. The book has earned more than his first book The Internet is a Playground, which was published by Penguin.

AppNewser has more: “He set a sales goal that he wanted to earn as much money from his self-published book in three months than he had with his traditionally published title. In two months, he achieved this goal and since the book was published March 15th he expects his sales on June 15th will surpass his goal by 43%.”

We published a long post looking at The Lost History of Fifty Shades of Grey recently, using the Wayback Machine to explore the Twilight fan fiction roots of E.L. James‘ runaway bestseller.

The Wayback Machine has since removed this record. We contacted Internet Archive for more information, and received this response: “The Internet Archive honors requests from domain and site owners to exclude page from the Wayback Machine at their request.”

Our original post still contains screenshots of some of the deleted content, but if you search the digital archive for those records, you now get this message: “Sorry. This URL has been excluded from the Wayback Machine.”

Author Kathi Kamen Goldmark has passed away. She was 63-years-old.

Goldmark (pictured, via) founded the Rock Bottom Remainders, a literary rock band that toured the country with a rotating line-up of bestselling authors (including The Shining novelist Stephen King, Tuesdays with Morrie writer Mitch Albom and The Joy Luck Club author Amy Tan). Goldmark published both fiction and nonfiction books, contributing to several anthologies as well.

Here’s more from The New York Times: ”[Goldmark], herself, a country rock musician, she made a day job of running a business taking authors around San Francisco when they came to do book tours. Ms. [Amy] Tan said that of all the jobs Ms. Goldmark held — author, columnist, publishing consultant, radio and music producer, songwriter — the word that best summed her up was ‘connector.’”