Curtis Brown

In a significant ruling regarding backlist e-book rights, a New York court this week held that e-book publisher Open Road infringed HarperCollins' copyright with its e-book edition of Jean Craighead George's 1973 bestselling children's book Julie of the Wolves.

"Having accordingly relied on the words of the contract, this Court holds that, by its language, the contract grants to HarperCollins the exclusive right to license electronic publications.

Sitting down? Good: There are more than 7,800 exhibitors from close to 100 countries listed for the 2013 Frankfurt Book Fair (October 9-13), the world’s largest publishing trade show, and the one that doubles as a showcase for the financial capital of Europe’s railway service.  You'll want to sit down and rest your feet before heading to Frankfurt to try to cover the show!

U.K. literary agency Curtis Brown (which operates independently from the literary agency of the same name in the U.S.) will publish over 200 titles exclusively through Amazon, in a program designed to break U.K. authors into the U.S. market.

Curtis Brown is running the new program with Amazon’s “White Glove” service (not to be confused with the company’s “white glove delivery” option for TVs and other high-priced goods). While Amazon hasn’t publicly promoted the service, it is aimed at literary agents representing well-known authors who control their own digital rights on backlist titles.

From the press release: Pan Macmillan announced today a partnership between its new digital imprint, Macmillan Bello, and Curtis Brown, one of Europe’s largest and most prestigious literary agencies. Macmillan Bello was previously known as Macmillan Compass, the working title for the imprint when its forthcoming launch was first announced in June this year. Pan [...]

Faber is to publish a "definitive" biography of entertainment mogul Simon Cowell by journalist Tom Bower, whose biography of Bernie Ecclestone came out with the publisher earlier this year. Sweet Revenge: The Intimate Life of Simon Cowell will be out in May 2012, and is "the result of hundreds of hours of unprecedented access to Cowell, plus direct contributions from his many supporters and rivals", Faber said. UK and Commonwealth rights were acquired by publisher Stephen Page from Jonathan Lloyd of Curtis Brown, with Angus Cargill set to edit. The book will be published simultaneously in the US by