The following video has had over 16 million hits since its launch in December:

The two sequels have had over 8 million and 4 million hits each (face it, they’re just not up to the original).

Harlequin has just signed creators Kyle Humphrey and Graydon Sheppard for a book based on the series, to be released in October, as reported by several news sources (The L.A. Times, Publishers Weekly, and The Huffington Post). At this point, it is not listed on wholesaler, retailer, or the publisher’s web sites.

Entertainment Weekly’s Shelf Life column offers an “exclusive;” the first two chapters of Maggie Stiefvater’s next YA title, The Raven Boys (it’s actually available to anyone via Scribed), coming from Scholastic on September 18. It’s the first in a planned series of 4 titles.

Based on the excerpt, EW says, “It seems to be an old-school young adult novel, full of mystery on an epic scale.”

Official Site: The Raven Boys

The Raven Boys Maggie Stiefvater Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: Scholastic Press – (2012-09-18) ISBN / EAN: 0545424925 / 9780545424929

Following up on her February announcement that her next book will be for adults, J.K. Rowling revealed the title today, The Casual Vacancy, and the release date, Sept. 27.

It’s described by the publisher, Hachette/Little, Brown, as “darkly comic.”
 

The Casual Vacancy, J.K. Rowling
Hachette/Little,Brown; 480 pages (approx)
Hardcover, 9780316228534, $35
Hachette Large print, 9780316228541, $39
Hachette Audio,9781619695009, $49.98

Publisher annotation:

When Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock.

Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the town’s council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

Blackly comic, thought-provoking and constantly surprising, The Casual Vacancy is J.K. Rowling’s first novel for adults.

John Grisham takes a break from legal thrillers with his new novel, Calico Joe,(RH/Doubleday), but sticks to the tradition of appearing on The Today Show on the day of the book’s publication (excerpt here). The Washington Post reviewed the book on Friday, calling it, “ a sweet, simple story, a fable really.”

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Grisham returns to the legal thriller in the fall, with The Racketeer, about the murder of a federal judge (note; the cover below is not final).

The Racketeer John Grisham Retail Price: $28.95 Hardcover: ? pages Publisher: RH/Doubleday – (2012-10-23) ISBN / EAN: 0385535147 / 9780385535144

In prep for our upcoming GalleyChat today at 4, ET, here are a few titles that have been high on the radar:

Heading Out to Wonderful, Robert Goolrick, Workman/Algonquin Books, ISBN: 9781565129238, June 12  – Available on NetGalley

One of my earliest “crystal ball” posts on EarlyWord began, “In these uncertain times, there is one thing I can say with confidence. However many copies you’ve ordered of A Reliable Wife, by Robert Goolrick, it’s not enough.”

I breathed a sigh of relieve when that proved to be true. In hardcover it hit the IndieBound best seller list, rising as high as #4, and the extended NYT list. The trade paperback, had an amazing ride, beginning at #2 on the NYT list in January of 2010, moving to the extended list in the fall. GalleyChatters say this one is “even better.” I look forward to moderating the “Book Trip” panel featuring Goolrick at BEA in June.

Into the Darkest Corner, Elizabeth Haynes, Harper, ISBN: 9780062197252, June 5 – Digital RC on Edelweiss.

GalleyChatters describe this debut as,

• “Dark, dark psychological suspense must read”
• “Really really tense; don’t read alone!”
• “very unnerving hard to put down”

Several sequels to big debuts are also eagerly awaited:

Shadow of the Night, Deborah Harkness, Penguin/Viking, ISBN 9780670022410, July 10; Sequel to A Discovery of Witches.

There are a limited number of galleys; a lucky few got them at PLA.

Talulla Rising, Glen Duncan, RH/Knopf, ISBN 9780307595096, June 26; Sequel to The Last Werewolf.

Galleys have been sent out. Digital RC’s on Edelweiss.

The Twelve, Justin Cronin, RH/Ballantine, ISBN 9780345504982, Oct 18; Sequel to The Passage.

When the first book in this trilogy came out last year, I accused Random House Library Marketing of trying to paper the earth the galleys. Seems it did the trick. For this sequel, there will be a limited number of galleys (they will have them at ALA) and RH is not currently planning to make it available as an e-galley.

The Time magazine Web site offers a long excerpt (the first three chapters) of Under Wildwood (HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray) coming September 25, the follow-up to Wildwood which was on the NYT children’s best seller list for two weeks last fall. It was also on the IndieBound top five for 18 weeks, three of them at #2.

Time also interviews the author, who is the singer/songwriter  for Portland folk band, The Decemberists, and the illustrator, Carson Ellis.

Featuring appropriately bright colors (the book is set in Miami), the cover of Tom Wolfe’s next, Back to Blood, was unveiled this week. With this title, Wolfe leaves  his long-time publisher, FSG to move to Little, Brown. He returns, however to editor Pat Strachan, who worked with Wolfe at FSG on several books, including Bonfire of the Vanities and The Right Stuff and is now at Little, Brown.

Below is the publisher’s description of the book scheduled for release is October.

As a police launch speeds across Miami’s Biscayne Bay-with officer Nestor Camacho on board-Tom Wolfe is off and running. Into the feverous landscape of the city, he introduces the Cuban mayor, the black police chief, a wanna-go-muckraking young journalist and his Yale-marinated editor; an Anglo sex-addiction psychiatrist and his Latina nurse by day, loin lock by night-until lately, the love of Nestor’s life; a refined, and oh-so-light-skinned young woman from Haiti and her Creole-spouting, black-gang-banger-stylin’ little brother; a billionaire porn addict, crack dealers in the ‘hoods, “de-skilled” conceptual artists at the Miami Art Basel Fair, “spectators” at the annual Biscayne Bay regatta looking only for that night’s orgy, yenta-heavy ex-New Yorkers at an “Active Adult” condo, and a nest of shady Russians. Based on the same sort of detailed, on-scene, high-energy reporting that powered Tom Wolfe’s previous bestselling novels, Back to Blood is another brilliant, spot-on, scrupulous, and often hilarious reckoning with our times.

Back to Blood: A Novel Tom Wolfe Retail Price: $30.00 Hardcover: 608 pages Publisher: Little, Brown and Company – (2012-10-23) ISBN / EAN: 0316036315 / 9780316036313

Hachette Audio

Yesterday, Penguin announced that Junot Diaz’s next book, a collection of short stories, This Is How You Lose Her, will be published by the Riverhead imprint in Sept. The story was picked up by several news sources, including the NYT and Entertainment Weekly

This will be the authors first book since his debut novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Entertainment Weekly notes that it “was a literary sensation upon its release in 2007, topping several year-end best lists and racking up major prizes, including the Pulitzer.” It is his second short story collection (Drown was released in 1996 and was an ALA Notable Book).

It will also be released in audio.

This Is How You Lose Her Junot Diaz Retail Price: $26.95 Hardcover: 240 pages Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover – (2012-09-11) ISBN / EAN: 1594487367 / 9781594487361

More good news for teen fans of Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (Hachette/LBYR, 2009). Not only have the two leads been cast for the film adaptation (rising star Jack O’Connell, from the British TV series, Skins and newcomer Alice Englert, join Viola Davis, already cast as Amma), but the authors just announced that the fourth and final volume in the book series, Beautiful Redemption, is coming October 23rd.

The publisher is planning a “cover reveal” in March (oooh, let’s guess; red lettering this time?), but we have the exclusive on the ISBN – 9780316123532.

Book Expo announces the first speaker for the Book & Author events; Michael Chabon will be featured on Thursday, June 7 at the Book and Author Breakfast.

His next book is Telegraph Avenue (HarperCollins, 9780061493348, on sale 9/11/12).

More author announcements will be coming soon.

Scribner announces that they have acquired Eight Girls Taking Pictures, Whitney Otto’s next novel (via Entertainment Weekly‘s “Shelf Life” blog). Otto’s first book, How to Make an American Quilt, was a best seller in 1991. The new book, based on the lives of the 20th century’s most important female photographers, is scheduled for release this fall. No ordering information is available yet.