HarperCollins will publish the first official book by 16-year-old YouTube pop singer Cody Simpson, a book entitled Welcome to Paradise: My Journey. Above, we’ve embedded a copy of Simpson’s most popular video–viewed  23.7 million times on YouTube.

Publication is set for October 22, 2013. The book will contain never-before-scene photographs as well as exclusive gossipy tidbits about the Australian singer’s personal and professional life. Matt Graham at Scooter Braun Projects, Primary Wave and CAA negotiated the deal for world rights with Harper nonfiction publishing director Anna Valentine and executive editor David Linker.

Here’s more from the release: “Cody Simpson gained notoriety in 2009 when he began uploading songs to YouTube and quickly became a viral hit. He was signed by Atlantic Records and, by 2010, had released the massive chart-topping single ‘iYiYi’ featuring Flo Rida, which has over 23 million views on YouTube … Now his YouTube channel has more than 155 million views, he has over 4.2 million Twitter and Facebook followers, has released two bestselling albums and has embarked on a global arena tour supporting Justin Bieber.” (via Yahoo! News)

In this week’s episode of “5 Things You Need to Know This Week,” Herman Cain sings about sexual harassment, Justin Bieber has a baby with Kate Middleton (I think I have that right), and nobody seems to know the whereabouts of Matt Lauer. Plus, we debut the 1st annual “Where in the World is ‘Five Things You Need to Know This Week?’”

For more videos, check out Mediabistro.tv, and be sure to follow us on Twitter: @mediabistroTV

For comic book publisher Bluewater Productions, it’s not superheros that bring in the big bucks, it’s politicians.

According to a piece on Politico, the publisher has sold 130,000 copies of a comic about Michelle Obama. “She competes with Justin Bieber just a little bit,” Darren Davis, the company’s president told Politico about the bestseller.

Comics about other politicians are also popular sellers. Politico has more: “More than 25,000 copies of both Clinton and Palin’s comic books were sold, and Davis and Schultz haven’t looked back since, going on to produce comic books on political figures including Colin Powell, Ronald Reagan, Bill O’Reilly, Caroline Kennedy, Al Franken, Nancy Pelosi, Michelle Obama, Arnold Schwarzenegger and George W. Bush.”

Yesterday we wrote about Justin Bieber‘s low circulation figures on recent magazine covers. We concluded with a question: should publishers stop betting on celebrity book deals?

Since then, we’ve found out that Bieber managed to sell more than 700,000 copies of his memoir. Sandee Roston, the director of publicity at HarperCollins Children’s Books, added this comment: “I can’t speak for other celebrity books but our Justin Bieber book, Justin Bieber: First Step 2 Forever, did really well (and continues to) …  Also, one of our bestselling YA series is by Lauren Conrad–L.A. Candy.”

What do you think–does this justify our mountain of celebrity books?

In a post analyzing recent magazine circulation figures, WWD Media revealed that Vanity Fair‘s Justin Bieber cover story tanked at the newsstand. Despite Bieber’s 10 million Twitter followers, his issue could be the worst selling edition of the magazine in 12 years.

The teen heartthrob couldn’t sell copies of other magazines as well: “His October 2010 Teen Vogue cover — presumably tailored for a more ideal demographic for the 17-year-old superstar — sold 121,054 issues, roughly 12 percent below Teen Vogue’s 2010 average, according to ABC data. And it’s not just the monthlies, either. In April 2010, People featured a Bieber cover — “ALL ABOUT JUSTIN BIEBER” shouted the headline — that sold 961,762 copies, which represents a 25 percent dip below average sales and was the third worst seller for the weekly all of last year, according to ABC data.”

These figures might illustrate a larger problem facing both magazine and book publishers– a massively popular teen star online doesn’t necessarily translate to blockbuster sales in bookstores and newsstands. Maybe it’s time for publishers to stop placing expensive bets on The Next Big Internet Celebrity? What do you think?

What are you reading? At the Los Angeles Festival of Books this weekend, hundreds of readers scribbled an answer to that question on a gigantic poster.

While some publishing events limit who can attend, it was refreshing to see big crowds full of of happy readers–each leaving a personalized mark on the festival.

California readers listed a bounty of books, everything from A Tale of Two Cities to Infinite Jest to Harry Potter books to Justin Bieber‘s memoir. Below, we’ve collected a few snapshots of the literary graffiti. We also spotted a series of giant crossword puzzles, solved live by anyone walking through the fair. Check out the photos–this kind of interactivity could help any literary event.

Read more

In an effort to raise money for Japanese earthquake relief, singer Justin Bieber sent a lock of his hair on tour and fans around the country have paid $1 to take a picture with it. Mimicking the young pop star, author David Thorne has sent a lock of his own hair on a bookstore tour.

Thorne’s editor, Michael Solana, explained in the release: “Thorne declared war on Justin Bieber last month with his site HelpMeSellMoreBooksThanJustinBieber.com. A 10-city tour of his hair was kind of inevitable.”

Thorne’s hair will spend three days in each store. For every location that hosts the Thorne lock, Penguin Group (USA)’s Tarcher/Penguin will donate $200 to the National Children’s Cancer Society.

Read more

When heartthrob Justin Bieber promoted his book at a Barnes & Noble event in Los Angeles, the store temporarily closed as more than 1,000 fans overflowed. According to an AP interview surrounding the event, he wrote First Step 2 Forever: My Story to tell his own story.

When asked by the AP about the reason why he published this book, he answered: “I don’t know if [my fans] know [my bio] completely. I’ve never gotten the chance to really tell them myself. I’ve told them in interviews and people have written articles, but it’s not really from me. I was able to write all my thoughts down and basically tell them, basically, how I’m feeling, you know? Just different stuff like that.”

In October, Bieber recorded the video embedded above about his book.  (Via Publishers Weekly)

Pop star Justin Bieber has recorded a 20-second book trailer for Amazon, appealing directly to his fans.

Here’s transcription of the brief Bieber book trailer: “Hey guys. Justin Bieber here. I just wanted to say ‘What up.’ I’m coming out with a book and it’s called First Step 2 Forever. It’s my story and I wrote it for you. It’s got a lot of exclusive photos and, you know, a lot of cool stuff about me and how I got discovered and the whole story. So I wanted to say, ‘Go buy it and, you know, I’m really excited about it.’”

While transcribing the interview, we uncovered this surreal and hilarious review of the Bieber book by comic Amazon book reviewer Jimmy Dean. We thought his brand of parody criticism merited a GalleyCat Reviews post–an excerpt follows below…

Read more

Country singer Jimmy Wayne (pictured, via) will publish his first novella with Simon and Schuster imprint Howard Books. Entitled Paper Angels, the book is scheduled for a September 2011 release.

Here’s more about the book: “[The novella] is inspired by his childhood growing up in the foster care system in North Carolina … Abandoned at a young age by his father and growing up in foster care due to his mother being in prison, Wayne and his sister were both recipients of the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program.”

Novelist Travis Thrasher, once dubbed “the Nicholas Sparks of Christian Fiction,” will co-author to book. In October, young Justin Bieber will test the pop star literary market, promoting his own illustrated memoir.