Despite Pandemic, Total Print

Book Sales Increased 8.2% In 2020

Total sales of print books rose 8.2% in 2020 vs. 2019, as units sold hit 750.9 million, up from 693.7 million a year ago. While the book industry was understandably concerned that sales would collapse when pandemic-induced store lockdowns were imposed in the Spring, sales never saw a serious decline despite other effects of Covid-19 on the business. Online sales and sales through non-bookstore outlets more than offset declines at physical retailers; as Publishers Weekly reported, the industry received an immediate boost when parents had to cope with teaching their children from home, which led to strong demand for juvenile nonfiction titles. “The segment finished 2020 with a 23.1% increase in print unit sales,” PW says. “The juvenile fiction category had a solid year, with sales up 11%. The two young adult segments also had big gains in 2020, with fiction sales rising 21.4% and nonfiction sales increasing 38.3%.” Political books and titles tied to social justice topics helped to lift sales in the adult nonfiction segment 4.8% over 2019, while adult fiction sales increased 6% over 2019.

Covid-19 Devastated The Film Biz, As

Streaming Created “New World Order”

With most theaters now closed due to Covid-19, cable networks and pay-TV services are competing directly with Hollywood studios, whose business model is now on life support. As Variety pointed out in a recent article, “People won’t be returning to the movies anytime soon. As a result, executives responsible for releasing movies have the unenviable job of making massive decisions, most of which are rooted in financials, that may have lingering reverberations. [Executives] have been forced to take another look at rough cuts or nearly finished versions of upcoming movies through a new, singular lens: Does this warrant a traditional theatrical release?” The heads of Paramount, MGM, and Universal are looking at myriad contractual issues while hoping for a return to “normal” this summer, when a vaccine is expected to be widely available. “However, few think that the industry will be able to quickly shake off the financial devastation of the past few months, [and] how movies open in theaters has changed perhaps irrevocably," Variety says. "That reality is the new world order that studios will be operating in when the pandemic finally ends.”

Bestselling Author

Eric Jerome Dickey Dies

Eric Jerome Dickey, whose novels depicted romance, erotica and suspense from the black perspective, died after a long illness last week at 59. Dickey wrote 29 novels that sold more than 7 million copies worldwide, and his final project—The Son of Mr. Suleman—hits shelves on April 20. “Dickey loved being a writer and all that it encompassed,” his longtime publisher, Dutton, said in a statement. “He loved challenging himself with each book, he adored his readers and beloved fans, and was always grateful for his success. We are proud to have been his publisher over the span of his award-winning career. He will truly be missed.” After his short story “Thirteen” was published in the 1994, Dickey wrote his debut novel, Sister, Sister, about young black women navigating love and friendship. Over the years, Dickey collected numerous awards, including a 2014 NAACP Image Award for A Wanted Woman. In 2006, he was named male author of the year at the African American Literary Awards Show, and was nominated in 2008 for Storyteller of the Year at Essence’s inaugural Literary Awards. In addition to his many novels and short stories, he also authored a miniseries for Marvel comics starring X-Men’s Storm and Black Panther.

TRUE CRIME

Unsealed Court Filing: FBI Used

“Stingray” Device To Nab Ghislaine

A newly unsealed court filing reveals how the FBI tracked Ghislaine Maxwell for months prior to arresting her in her secluded mansion in Bradford, New Hampshire. As reported by The Daily Beast, the British socialite and accused accomplice of sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein had opened a mobile account under the name “G Max” and used it to communicate with phones belonging to her rumored husband Scott Borgerson, her sister Isabel, and one of her lawyers, Laura Menninger. Authorities previously obtained a search warrant in New York to receive GPS and historical cell site data for Maxwell's cellphone account, which had a northeastern Massachusetts area code, and were able to track her to within one square mile of her location. To pinpoint her exact location, the FBI used a “stingray” device, also known as an “IMSI catcher,” to simulates a cell tower and force mobile phones in the immediate vicinity to connect to it instead of the actual tower. Once connected, the "stingray" captures the phone’s exact location and the user’s identifying information. Ghislaine is charged with grooming three girls as young as 14 for Epstein in the mid-1990s, and faces trial this summer.

Hollywoodland May Be The Best

Neo-Noir Film You Probably Never Saw

The death of actor George Reeves in the summer of 1959 was quickly ruled a self-inflicted gunshot, but it remains one of the most suspicious incidents in Hollywood history. Most famous for portraying Clark Kent/Superman, Reeves was found dead in his Laurel Canyon home, a bullet in his brain. A gun was found next to his body, and blood was spattered on the ceiling and wall behind him. As Crime Reads’ Sabina Stent wrote last week, “It was a suicide in the eyes of the law, but his death was not that straightforward, compounded by police carelessness and unreliable testimony. Why was Reeves’ body washed before the autopsy? Why were there bruises on his face and his body, and why were there fresh bullet holes in the floor, covered by a rug? And if Reeves had intended suicide, why did he choose to die naked, and with no note?” These questions are addressed in the 2006 film Hollywoodland starring Ben Affleck as Reeves, but tepid reviews kept total ticket sales to just $16.8 million. Still, Stent recommends a peek, writing, “Fundamentally, the film is a testimony and tribute to a complicated man who died tragically, and who was more than a moment in television and Hollywood history.”

Hemingway’s Politics Are Front

And Center In His Only Crime Novel

There’s no question that Ernest Hemingway is one of the finest writers in American history; he’s also possibly the least understood. That’s the premise of an article by David Masciotra in Crime Reads, who says critics have alternately dubbed the literary giant a political conservative, while others point to his socialist sympathies and his passionate support of Eugene Debbs and Fidel Castro. “Anyone willing to attend to the details of his stories…finds there is a rich world of antiwar, anti-colonial, and socialist politic,.” Masciotra writes. “None of Hemingway’s work better captures his suspicion of capitalism, and his affection for the radical politics of the 1930s, than To Have and Have Not….[his] only crime novel, and his only [book] set in the United States. While Hemingway never wrote another crime novel, and he would never make a political statement as direct and confrontational, his misunderstood 1937 novel—despite the protests of his critics—is an unlikely touchstone for his triumphant career.”

Enemy of the State:

Tight Thriller With A Twist

Over the weekend I was reminded again of why I love the political thriller Enemy Of The State. Not only does it have a superb cast (featuring Will Smith and Gene Hackman) and a tight, mostly believable plot, but there’s a twist at the end that the average viewer should see coming, but most likely won’t because all the action and intrigue in the first two hours that serves as a clever distraction. Without giving too much away, the film focuses on two disparate characters: Robert Clayton Dean (Smith), a mild-mannered DC lawyer on the trail of a mob kingpin whose life is placed in danger because of deadly evidence he doesn’t know he possesses. Hackman plays Edward Lyle (aka “Brill”), who reluctantly is drawn into Dean’s toxic problems and helps hatch a plan to return his life to normal, while turning the tables on the corrupt politician (Jon Voight) who’s after him. The 1998 film was directed by Tony Scott, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and written by David Marconi. Several critics have said Enemy Of The State serves as continuation of The Conversation, the excellent 1974 psychological thriller that starred Hackman as a paranoid, isolated surveillance expert.

Look What Just Arrived!

With all the political chaos going on in our nation's capital—and the ongoing global health crisis—it was a breath of fresh air to receive my advance copies of Skeleton Key over the weekend! This is the fourth in my Jack Connor series, and the follow-up to Hurricane Blues, which was released last April. The official pub date is February 9, but they're available from Epicenter Press / Coffeetown Press for pre-order now on Amazon.