Image Credit: George Burns/Harpo, Inc.

The first installment of Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 concludes this Sunday, capped by Oprah’s two-hour interview with the author of Wild, Cheryl Strayed on OWN’s Super Soul Sunday (11 a.m. ET/PT; also on Oprah Radio on Sirius and the club’s Facebook page).

Will she announce a new title? Winfrey is not saying, but publishers hope she will continue the club. Even though, as USA Today writes, Wild did not get as large a boost from Book Club 2.0 as titles did from the old club, sales still rose significantly. Prior to the announcement, Wild had sold 85,000 copies. After it was chosen, sales jumped by approximately 185,000 copies. In the days of Book Club 1.0,  publishers would print an additional 500,000 copes of an Oprah pick.

Curiously, however, a reduced Oprah book club may be a good thing. USA Today quotes a study that shows overall sales of fiction declined when the old club was in session. Why? The audience may have stopped buying other, “easier” titles because they were spending more time concentrating on Tolstoy or Toni Morrison. The author of the study, Northwestern University economist, Craig Garthwaite, told the NYT,

The results suggest there’s a fixed market of readers. Oprah isn’t bringing new readers into publishing; she’s just shifting around people who were already participating in the market. And in that situation, there are always going to be winners and losers.

The quirky debut, Shine Shine Shine by Lydia Netzer (Macmillan/St. Martin’s; Macmillan Audio) is the tenth People magazine pick of the year. Several librarians on GalleyChat have noted it as a favorite.

The only other review at this point is from Janet Maslin in the New York Times. She calls it “chick lit a metaphysical spin.” Why? It’s  a portrait of a marriage (a subject Netzer is clearly interested in; she’s written essays on the subject for The Huffington Post) with the complication that the husband is an astronaut now living on the moon, the wife, a seemingly perfect blonde, has suddenly removed her wig and is totally bald, and their son is autistic, with the unfortunate name of Bubber. People acknowledges, “The set-up sounds comical, but the story that unfolds is not only entertaining but nuanced and wise.”

Library ordering is light, despite mostly enthusiastic prepub reviews. Holds at this point are also light.

An eager audience was clearly awaiting Deborah Harkness’s second book in her All Souls trilogy. Shadow of Night (Penguin/Viking; Thorndike Large Print; Penguin Audiobooks) arrives at #4 (immediately after the Fifty Shades of Grey titles) on the new USA Today best selling books list, making it the top-selling hardcover fiction title. It also arrives at #1 on the Indie Best Seller list.

The new James Patterson title, I Michael Bennett (Hachette/Little, Brown; Hachette Large Print; Hachette Audio) arrives at #5. As a result, the breakout novel of the summer Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl moves down to #6, from #4 last week.

That doesn’t indicate interest is slipping, however, but rather the strength of the first-week sales for both Patterson and Harkness. Library holds are higher for Gone Girl (RH/Crown; Audio, BOT; audio and ebook on OverDrive; Thorndike Large Print, Sept.) than the other two titles and they continue to mount, with some libraries showing a total of 1,600. We expect Gone Girl to continue to attract readers throughout the summer; it’s not too late to buy additional copies.

USA Today‘s “Book Buzz” column notes that the rise of Laura Moriarty’s The Chaperone (Penguin/Riverhead; Thorndike Large Print; Blackstone Audio; Penguin Audio) to #21 from #155 last week is a result of Amazon’s special single-day sale of the Kindle version for $2.99. The column also notes, perhaps unwittingly breaking news, that Downton Abbey‘s Elizabeth McGovern “will star in the film adaptation.” She also reads the audio version.

Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series has been optioned several times for movies.

Sony Pictures TV just closed a new deal, with plans for a TV series. A producer and script writers have been assigned and, according to Deadline, the project is being pitched to cable networks this week.

All those fans who have made dozens of videos offering cast suggestions, have reason to hope that the project will finally come to pass.

Two of the stars of Disney’s Oz The Great and Powerful, Michelle Williams and Mila Kunis (who play the good and the bad witches respectively) were trotted out at Comic-Con, where the trailer was also introduced and, according to some reports, enjoyed the best buzz of the show. The studio just released several high-res images from the film, to emphasize that, if nothing else, it is visually arresting. In addition to Williams and Kunis, the film stars James Franco and Rachel Weisz. It’s scheduled to arrive in theaters on March 8, 2013.

Disney Book Group, of course, will be publishing several tie-ins, including a junior novelization, an early reader, a storybook and a behind-the-scenes book. They are also republishing the first two titles in L. Frank Baum’s series, The Wonderful World of Oz and The Marvelous Land of Oz.

More Oz magic is on it’s way. The long-awaited film adaptation of the musical Wicked, based on the book by Gregory Maguire, may finally come to fruition; Deadline reports that Universal is courting Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot) to direct. Also on the drawing board is an animated film, Dorothy of Oz. In April, it was reported that Bernadette Peters joined the cast as the voice of Glinda.

The conclusion to Gregory Maguire’s Oz series, which began with Wicked, was published last October (NOTE; We mistakenly said it was coming out this year; that’s the date the paperback edition will be released).

Out of Oz: The Final Volume in the Wicked Years Gregory Maguire Retail Price: $15.99 Paperback: 608 pages Publisher: HarperCollins/Morrow – (2012-10-02) ISBN / EAN: 0060859733 / 9780060859732

Hitting theaters this week is the trailer for A&E’s two-night movie Coma, based on the Robin Cook’s first novel, which launched the medical thriller genre. Cook, a medical doctor, says he chose the thriller as a way to educate readers about various public policy issues.

The series, which begins on Labor Day, stars James Woods, Geena Davis, Richard Dreyfuss, Ellen Burstyn, Lauren Ambrose and Stephen Pasquale.

Official Site: AETV.com/coma/

The book, still in print in a 25th anniversary edition, was made into a film in 1978, directed by Michael Crichton, starring Michael Douglas and Geneviève Bujold.

COMA Robin Cook Retail Price: $7.99 Mass Market Paperback: 381 pages Publisher: Penguin/Signet – (2002-11-05) ISBN / EAN: 0451207394 / 9780451207395

Cook’s next novel, his 29th, is coming in January.

Nano Robin Cook Retail Price: $26.95 Hardcover: 432 pages Publisher: Penguin/Putnam – (2013-01-08) ISBN / EAN: 0399160825 / 9780399160820

Penguin Audio

Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter, The Woman in Black) has just signed for the lead in the film adaptation of Joe Hill’s 2010 supernatural horror novel, Horns, directed by Alexandre Aja. At the time it was published, Time magazine called Hill “one of America’s finest horror writers,” based on “the strength of two masterly thrillers – 2007′s Heart-Shaped Box and his newest, Horns.”

On his Web site, Hill expresses his excitement, saying he is “amped beyond all rational measure. I could not be happier about the casting of Daniel Radcliffe as Ig Perrish. My fanboy feelings for the Harry Potter pictures are well-established, but aside from that, I thought Woman in Black was one of the best horror films of the last decade, and the picture worked because of Radcliffe’s quietly focused performance. I hope HORNS serves the kid just as well.”

The film is scheduled to begin shooting this fall, with a likely release date sometime in 2013.

Horns: A Novel Joe Hill Retail Price: $25.99 Hardcover: 370 pages Publisher: Harper/Morrow – (2010-02-16) ISBN / EAN: 0061147958 / 9780061147951

Entertainment Weekly gives us a look at a behind-the-scenes video of Jennifer Lawrence shooting a scary scene for Hunger Games (EW claims it as an exclusive, but it’s on YouTube) which was shown at Comic-Con:

Locations for the sequel, Catching Fire, are being scouted in Atlanta (the first film was shot in North Carolina). Several new cast members have been announced, the most notable being Philip Seymour Hoffman, who will play Head Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee. Glee star Grant Gustin recently tried out for the role of Finnick Odair.

Catching Fire is scheduled to be released just before Thanksgiving, 2013. Following the tradition set by the Harry Potter and Twilight franchises, the final book in the series, Mockingjay will be released as two movies. They are scheduled to follow each successive November. The L.A. Times questions whether the studio can handle the intense schedule of a new movie every twelve months.

A new site called I Dream Books is being called “Rotten Tomatoes for Books,” a reference to the movie site that rounds ups critics responses to movies.

The founders tell Publishing Perspectives that although there are several other book review aggregators, their site is different because their user interface is better, “it’s made for discovery: there’s an emphasis on covers and images. The site is like looking in a shop window.”

After examining it, we’ll stick with our favorite aggregators; Bookmarks magazine’s web site, which lists the reviews for the week from 25 publications, as well as the most-reviewed titles for the past 8 weeks and the subscription service Publishers Marketplace ($20/month, which includes a host of other services). The latter indexes reviews from over 40 publications, with a brief excerpt and a simple indicator of whether each review is “Generally positive” or “Generally negative”.

In comparison to those sources, I Dream Books is not as timely. The latest reviews we could find are from May; no reviews are listed for Hilary Mantel’s Bring Up the Bodies (published by Macmillan, one of the Big Six publishers that I Dream Books is currently focused on). Bookmarks shows 14 reviews for the title and Publishers Marketplace, 13. In addition, some of the information is perplexing; several titles are listed by their paperback release dates, with no mention of the hardcover.

I Dream Books has an advantage in the number of sources they cover, including several book blogs. As print coverage of books shrinks, this could be very useful. However, since many book blogs are by genre fans, they skew the listings. For instance, Jinx, a new graphic novel version of the Archie Comics, is listed as the #2 Top Rated fiction title of the year.

News stories:

Huffington Post — iDreamBooks Review Site: Rotten Tomatoes For Books?

MediaBistro —Idreambooks.com Is Like Rotten Tomatoes For Books – AppNewser

Publishing Perspectives — iDreambooks Promises “Rotten Tomatoes-like” Site for Books

Demo video:

News sources are advising Peter Jackson to get his Oscar speech ready. The 12-minute footage (or 13-minute, depending on which source you believe) from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, that he presented at Comic-Con over the weekend was, by all accounts, a huge hit with the 6,500 fans who lined up, many overnight, to see it.

Unexpected Journey opens on December 14. The sequel. The Hobbit: There and Back Again is due next year. Peter Jackson made comments during an interview at  Comic-Con, that touched off rumors that the second film may be split into two, resulting in a trilogy. He quickly backed off, however, saying talk of a trilogy is “very premature.”

The clips shown at Comic-Con were up on YouTube briefly and then removed. For now, the only glimpse we have is the trailer that was released last December and behind-the-scenes footage on Peter Jackson’s blog.

Official Movie Web Site: TheHobbit.com

The tie-in is being published in September.

The Hobbit (Movie Tie-In) J.R.R. Tolkien Retail Price: $13.95 Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: HMH/Mariner Books – (2012-09-18) ISBN / EAN: 0547844972 / 9780547844978

HMH/Mariner also lists a behind-the-scenes book for young readers.

On the other hand, reports the NYT, The Host, Stephenie Meyer’s new project, ” was greeted with puzzled expressions and tepid applause. That sent a publicist for its distributor, Open Road Films, scrambling to point a reporter toward positive reactions from bloggers.”

The NYT notes that George W. Bush, after remaining largely silent on the upcoming presidential campaign, “gingerly enters the fray a little more this week with a new book outlining ways to rebuild the economy.”

Coming on Tuesday is a collection of essays by various economists called The 4% Solution because it offers ideas on how to expand the economy by that amount per year. Bush has written the introduction and will launch the book at an event in Dallas tomorrow. The NYT calls it a “wonky paean to free enterprise.”

The book was embargoed, so several libraries have not ordered it. Those that have are showing few holds.

The 4% Solution: Unleashing the Economic Growth America Needs The Bush Institute Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Crown Business – (2012-07-17) ISBN / EAN: 0307986144 / 9780307986146

D.C. Comics made a splash during a Comic-Con panel yesterday when they announced that Neil Gaiman is returning to his classic comic series, The Sandman. He is planning a miniseries to explain why “Morpheus [was] so easily captured in The Sandman No. 1, and why he was returned from far away, exhausted beyond imagining, and dressed for war.” It will be released some time next year from the Vertigo imprint.

The day before, HarperCollins Children’s division announced that Gaiman has signed a deal for three novels and two picture books. On his blog, Gaiman writes that one of the picture books, Chu’s Day, illustrated by Adam Rex, is finished and will be released on Jan. 8th (9780062017819). He says it is “the first book I’ve ever written for really little kids. Ones who cannot read. Ones who can only just walk.”  The second Chu book is written, but there is no release date yet.

Interior art below (Chu is on the far right; click on the image for a larger version):

The other three titles are middle-grade books, says Gaiman, “Fortunately, the Milk (already written), and the next Odd novel (started and plotted) and a mysterious book that I think I know what it is (not even started, won’t be for quite a while, and I think I know the setting but not the story)…”

He is also at work on a novel for adults, Lettie Hempstock’s Ocean, “which should be out in 2013 some time, although contracts aren’t signed.”

Hollywood deal making isn’t just about self-published erotica these days. Gillian Flynn’s major breakout, Gone Girl, was the subject of a major rights auction, resulting in a 7-figure deal to 20th Century Fox, with Reese Witherspoon producing.

All three of Flynn’s books have been optioned. Dark Places (RH/Crown) is moving along; Amy Adams will to star and Gilles Paquet-Brenner direct (Word and Film recently interviewed Flynn about that project). Flynn’s first novel, Sharp Objects (RH/Broadway), was optioned by Alliance Films and has a producer, but no director or cast yet.

Gone Girl Gillian Flynn Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 412 pages Publisher: RH/Crown – (2012-06-05) ISBN: 9780307588364

Audio, BOT; audio and ebook on OverDrive; Thorndike Large Print, Sept.

The publicity drum is beating for the release of the third installment of the series based on the Batman comics, The Dark Knight Rises, which arrives in theaters next week.

As a result, a forthcoming behind-the-scenes book is rising on Amazon’s sales rankings:

The Art and Making of The Dark Knight Trilogy Jody Duncan Jesser, Janine Pourroy Retail Price: $40.00 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Abrams – (2012-07-20) ISBN / EAN: 1419703692 / 9781419703690

It’s already been covered in a wide range of publications, from The Jewish Daily Forward to the Psychiatric Times. Now Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety by Daniel Smith (S&S, July; Blackstone Audio) gets the lead, four-star review in the new issue of People magazine and is named one of 8 People picks of the year. The reviewer calls it an “unforgettable, surprisingly hilarious memoir, [in which] journalist and professor Smith chronicles his head-changing, flop sweating battles with acute anxiety.”

The Psychiatric Times predicts it “will be recognized in the years to come as the preeminent first-person narrative of the anxiously lived life,” adding,”it is wonderful to have a narrative of Generalized Anxiety Disorder that can join the classic narratives already written for our other major diagnoses; William Styron’s Darkness Visible for depression, Redfield Jamison’s Unquiet Mind for bipolar disorder and Elyn Saks’s The Center Cannot Hold for schizophrenia.”