Journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann will once again be teaming up on a new nonfiction project. Following the success of their 2010 title, Game Change, the writing duo plans to pen Double Down: Game Change 2012.

This book will examine Presidential race between President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. Penguin Press president and editor-in-chief Ann Godoff negotiated the deal with The Wylie Agency’s Andrew Wylie. According to The New York Times, the publisher has planned a release date for fall 2013.

Here’s more from The Hollywood Reporter: “The book already has been optioned by HBO. The cable network aired Game Change, a Jay Roach-directed and Danny Strong-written movie about the 2008 election that in September won four Emmys, including one for Julianne Moore‘s performance as Sarah Palin. Roach and Strong are likely to return for the sequel.”

Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk has landed a deal with ABRAMS for The Innocence of Objects. The book is slated for worldwide release in October 2012. Andrew Wylie of the Wylie Agency negotiated the deal with editor-in-chief Eric Himmel.

This publication catalogs Pamuk’s Museum of Innocence. The actual museum will open to the public on April 27th. This institution, located in Pamuk’s hometown Istanbul, was inspired by Pamuk’s 2008 novel which shares the same name.

Here’s more from the release: “The Innocence of Objects will explore the many meanings of this remarkable project. While it offers a rich visual guide to the exhibitions, it also allows Pamuk to write about things that matter deeply to him, including the psychology of the collector, the proper role of the museum, the uses of photography in modernizing societies, and of course the customs and traditions of his beloved city. The book’s imagery is equally evocative, ranging from pop ephemera that has become ‘collectible,’ to Pamuk’s superb collection of haunting photographs and movie stills of old Istanbul, to the stunning images captured by Turkish photographer Ara Guler.”

Read more

In the new issue of WSJ Magazine, agent Andrew Wylie shared his thoughts about the contemporary publishing industry in an opinionated essay. We got a sneak peek at the essay where the famous agent pondered our digital future.

His essay stressed that despite self-publishing options, the writing profession needs “a chain of people who have authority and can help convey what is essential.” What do you think?

Here’s an excerpt: “The devaluation of quality editing and writing is sad and it’s inevitable. Each house has a large number of titles to publish, and with a difficult economy, fewer people to handle the publications. But publishers need to become smaller, leaner, and they will have to learn new disciplines. The whole one-year publication process must be reduced.”

Read more

Former vice president Al Gore (pictured, via) has signed with Random House to publish a not-yet-titled book on “the political, social and economic forces that are shaping what America and the world will become in ensuing decades.”

Executive editor Jon Meacham negotiated the deal with The Wylie Agency founder Andrew Wylie. The deal includes World English, German and Spanish languages, first serial, audio, and e-book publication rights. The publisher will release the book in 2012.

Gore gave this quote in the release: “I am delighted to be working with Jon Meacham and Random House on my next book. With this new work, I hope to help start a conversation about the large-scale drivers of change that are defining and shaping our future—from the rapid development and integration of radically new technologies to the planet-changing impact of the climate crisis, to poverty, globalization, and the democratization of knowledge accompanying the emergence of a ubiquitous Internet linking ever more intelligent devices.”

Read more

According to a Crain’s New York report sourced by “several industry insiders,” music legend Bob Dylan will write six books for Simon & Schuster. Literary agent Andrew Wylie reportedly handled the deal with the publishing house that handled Dylan’s Chronicles: Volume One.

Here’s more from the article: “The books include two follow-ups to Chronicles and a collection of riffs from Mr. Dylan’s radio show on Sirius XM … Mr. Wylie had been looking for an eight-figure offer, according to another editor, who didn’t know the deal’s final value.”

Chronicles: Volume One covered Dylan’s 1961 arrival in Greenwich Village, entering a bustling literary and musical scene. Follow this link to read an excerpt.

Novelist Salman Rushdie has sold his unfinished memoir to Random House worldwide. The publisher has acquired “hardcover, paperback, audio, and e-book rights for English- German-and Spanish-language editions” of the book about Rushdie’s life, from his years in public school to his years in hiding with a fatwah hanging over his head.

Andrew Wylie from The Wylie Agency negotiated the deal (proving once and for all that problems between the publisher and Wylie’s agency have been resolved). The manuscript should be finished by next year.

Random House imprint publisher Susan Kamil had this statement: “Will Murphy, his U.S. editor, and I have read many pages from Mr. Rushdie’s first draft, and we are dazzled once again by his prodigious literary gifts and his mesmerizing ability to tell a riveting story, this time of his very own life. We can’t wait to read the completed manuscript and to work with him to bring it to publication.”

The satirical writer Evil Wylie granted his or her first interview to Independent Publisher. For weeks, the anonymous writer has posed as a fictional version of literary agent Andrew Wylie on Twitter.

In the interview, Evil Wylie admitted they created the Emperor Franzen Twitter feed (a satirical version of Jonathan Franzen), but did not create the Good Random House Twitter feed (a satirical version of the corporate publisher). Evil Wylie maintained his or her anonymity for the interview.

According to the Evil Wylie writer, these anonymous Twitter feeds created a safe space for publishing people to speak candidly about industry issues. EvilWylie explained: “We don’t live in a black-and-white, good-vs.-evil world, but wouldn’t it be nice if we did? It would certainly be less confusing. Great evil characters — from Emperor Franzen to Darth Vader to Dick Cheney — provide safe outlets for us to examine our feelings. Of course, Evil Wylie doesn’t have any feelings, so I’m obviously not speaking from experience here.”

Read more

Responding to Andrew Wylie‘s exclusive eBook deal with Amazon, Penguin Group CEO John Makinson offered a calming point to all the outrage.

At Publishers Weekly, the CEO noted that the backlist titles involved compose “a very small percentage” of the company’s total revenue. “I don’t think it’s a cosmic issue. We will continue to talk to the Wylie Agency and we will continue to talk to our authors about what is best for them,” concluded Makinson.

Last week Wylie unveiled the Odyssey Editions eBooks imprint, releasing 20 eBook versions of beloved literary titles including, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich. Macmillan CEO John Sargent said he was “appalled” by the Wylie/Amazon deal and Random House has stopped dealing with the agency.

Despite his calming words, Makinson added that he is unhappy with the Wylie/Amazon deal and agreed with Sargent’s sentiment that books should be made available through a wide variety of channels.

The Wylie Agency decided to strike out on its own this week, publishing 20 eBooks through the literary agency’s brand new Odyssey Editions imprint. These new books will be published exclusively through the Amazon Kindle Store, revealing why Andrew Wylie said eBook deals were “currently on hold across the board” last month.

The first wave of eBooks contain some of the 20th Century’s most important titles: Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth, The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, and The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer. These books will be sold for $9.99, all of them available for the first time in eBook format. See the complete list after the jump.

Andrew Wylie had this statement: “As the market for e-books grows, it will be important for readers to have access in e-book format to the best contemporary literature the world has to offer … This publishing program is designed to address that need, and to help e-book readers build a digital library of classic contemporary literature.”

UPDATE: Other publications analyze the news:
New York Times
Publishers Weekly
Teleread
Future Book
Enhanced Editions
A Reading Odyssey

Read more

In a long profile in the current issue of Harvard Magazine, agent Andrew Wylie revealed that eBook deals are “currently on hold across the board” at his famous agency, and cautioned publishers that he could take eBook rights elsewhere.

Wylie’s agency counts 700 clients, including major writers like Dave Eggers, Al Gore, Philip Roth, and Louise Erdrich–so these are not idle threats. eBookNewser has more about the article.

Here is an excerpt: “Wylie threatens to monetize those unassigned rights by going outside the publishing business entirely: ‘We will take our 700 clients, see what rights are not allocated to publishers, and establish a company on their behalf to license those e-book rights directly to someone like Google, Amazon.com, or Apple. It would be another business, set up on parallel tracks to the frontlist book business.’”