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Comedian and pop culture commentator Billy Eichner has announced a deal with Hachette for a book about showbiz, pop culture and social media.”I’m very excited to start writing, and I can assure my fans they will love the book more than Shailene Woodley loves Tom’s of Maine,” he said.Eichner has made a name for himself as the creator and host of off-the-wall game show “Billy on the Street,” carried by the Will Ferrell and Adam McKay video website Funny or Die.

via ‘Billy on the Street’ funnyman announces book deal – Yahoo News.

US online giant Amazon unveiled a Netflix-style subscription plan Friday for unlimited access to e-books, a move which could shake up the world of publishing.The $9.99 per month Kindle Unlimited program offers access to some 600,000 titles in the Amazon Kindle format.Subscribers will be able to access the books on Amazon’s Kindle tablets, as well as other devices with a Kindle app, including iPads and iPhones, Windows devices and Android-powered mobile gadgets.

via Amazon launches unlimited e-book subscription plan – Yahoo News.

The deal will see the commercial arm of the BBC provide investment, co-production expertise, access to their market research and development initiatives in addition to their global marketing reach in return for the first-look on new content. Set up in 2008 and currently led by Nick Marston and Dixie Linder, Cuba Pictures’ aim was to collaborate with Curtis Brown author, directors, screenwriters and actors in order to develop and produce film and television.  Its first film, Boy A, which won 5 BAFTAs was written by Mark O’Rowe from the novel by Jonathan Trigell and starred Andrew Garfield.  For its latest project, the company are working with BBC Worldwide through a co-production deal with US cable channel BBC America on the major seven part series Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell based on Susanna Clarke’s novel.  Adapted by Peter Harness and directed by Toby Haynes, it is due for transmission on BBC One and BBC America later this year*.  Films from Cuba Pictures including Broken (with BBC Films) which won Best British Independent Film at the 2012 BIFA’s and the forthcoming London Road, co-produced with the National Theatre for BBC Films and the BFI.

via BBC – BBC Worldwide in first look partnership with Cuba Pictures – Media centre.

NEW YORK, July 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company and the pioneering publisher of the bestselling multi-platform properties The 39 Clues™, announced today that it will publish its next multi-platform series, TombQuest™ ,  simultaneously in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand in February 2015. The mystery of ancient Egypt comes to life in this thrilling action adventure spanning five spellbinding books by acclaimed author Michael Northrop and linked with an interactive online game. The first title, Book of the Dead, will launch in print and digital formats in February 2015, with the second book to follow in May 2015. The five-book series for readers ages 8-12 also will feature hidden puzzles and coded messages on the covers which kids can unlock to reveal key plot points.

via Scholastic To Launch TombQuest™, A New Multi-Platform Action Adventure Series, In February 2015 – MarketWatch.

Hachette isn’t the only book publisher facing down Amazon.com AMZN +1.76%.

The country’s largest bookseller is also in talks with Simon & Schuster, said Leslie Moonves, CEO of the publisher’s parent CBS Corp.CBS -0.21% at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen, Colo. Moonves added that he’d personally met with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos at a recent conference in Sun Valley, Idaho.

“Amazon has a definite point of view about what should be done in the publishing business,” said Moonves. “It’s going to be a very interesting thing to watch.”

via Amazon Is Now in Talks With Simon & Schuster – Digits – WSJ.

After writing four novels, the closest Christina Baker Kline had come to the best-seller list was as a teenage babysitter in Bangor, Maine, more than 30 years ago.In her hometown, she watched Stephen King’s two sons, Owen and Joe, who, she proudly notes, grew up to become novelists.So did Kline, the daughter of two professors at the University of Maine. (Her dad taught

via ‘Orphan Train’ on surprise trip up the best-seller list.

“Gone Girl,” the murder-mystery thriller starring Ben Affleck, will open this year’s 52nd annual New York Film Festival, Variety has learned.

The Twentieth Century Fox release, which was directed by David Fincher and co-financed by New Regency, is based on the best-selling novel by Gillian Flynn. Rosamund Pike plays the title character, a wife who mysteriously vanishes from her home one day, causing her husband (Affleck) to be suspected of killing her.

via ‘Gone Girl’ Starring Ben Affleck to Open New York Film Festival | Variety.

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan refused on Thursday afternoon to block a federal appeals court ruling against continued copyright protection for fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, for any stories about him that have entered the public domain.  Kagan acted without even asking for a response from an author who is preparing a new Holmes anthology, and she gave no explanation for her denial of a stay.  The blog’s earlier post on the case is here.

via Sherlock Holmes plea denied : SCOTUSblog.

Lawyers in the Jesse Ventura defamation trial tangled in federal court Thursday, July 17, over the making and marketing of an international bestseller that the former governor claims has ruined his reputation.

via Lawyers spar over the making and marketing of American Sniper in Jesse Ventura defamation trial | Star Tribune.