Dark side of romance

Dark side of romance

TORONTO — Harlequin Enterprises Limited, one of the world’s leading publishers of women’s fiction, on Thursday launched Silhouette Nocturne Bites, romantically charged paranormal short stories available exclusively in the eBook format, including Adobe PDF, Microsoft Reader, Mobipocket, Palm and Sony.

Bites launched with “Racing The Moon” by Michele Hauf and will feature one new title per month. Regularly priced at $2.99, each book is being introduced at a special price of 99-cents each until the end of the month. They can be downloaded through eHarlequin.com and all other eRetailers

Silhouette Nocturne Bites is also looking to acquire paranormal editorial. Potential authors should check guidelines and submission details at www.eHarlequin.com.

Baseball slugger’s memoir

NEW YORK — Former baseball slugger Darryl Strawberry, whose achievements on the field often were overshadowed by his struggles with cancer and substance abuse, is writing a memoir, “Straw,” to be published in 2009 by Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins.

John Strausbaugh, who helped write a book by John Leguizamo, will collaborate with Strawberry.

Strawberry, 46, was an eight-time All-Star who hit 335 home runs in 17 seasons and played on World Series championship teams with both the New York Mets and New York Yankees. But he also had a long history of personal problems, including substance abuse, domestic violence, colon cancer, and tax problems. In March, the Mets announced they had hired Strawberry as a special instructor and a traveling ambassador, visiting minor league teams and community organizations.

Tale of governor’s rise, fall

NEW YORK — Portfolio, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA), announced Penguins’ plans to publish a book about the rise and stunning decline of former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

Peter Elkind, who helped write the 2003 best-seller “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room,” is collaborating on the book with filmmaker Alex Gibney. The pair will also work on a documentary about the law-and-order Democrat who resigned last month over allegations about his connection to a $5,500-an-hour call girl ring.

The book and film, currently untitled, are expected to come out around the same time, but no release date has been set.

Miley Cyrus, author

NEW YORK — Miley Cyrus, the multi-hyphenate 15-year-old star has signed a book deal to tell the story of her young life.

The memoir by Cyrus, who stars in the Disney Channel series “Hannah Montana,” is planned to be released in spring 2009 by The Disney Book Group under the Disney-Hyperion Books imprint. The book will focus particularly on the guidance of Cyrus’ mother, Leticia, and will also feature previously unseen photos, family stories and “a look at her inner circle of loved ones.”

Financial details of the deal were not immediately known.

Trading places

NEW YORK — Robert S. Miller, the longtime and energetic founder-president of Hyperion, has left the publisher and joined HarperCollins, where he now heads a new currently unnamed imprint specializing in short, “popular-priced” books and some dramatic industry changes.

Miller’s imprint will release about 25 books a year. The books will be short — similar to Steve Martin’s “Shopgirl” (Hyperion), and will cost around $20. The imprint also will pay lower advances, or none at all, but divide profits equally (instead of 15 percent of the retail price or lower for the author); releases will be sent to stores on a nonreturnable basis.

Ellen Archer replaced Miller at Hyperion, where she was senior vice president. She is also looking to make major changes, including a digital deal that would be “a paradigm shift for how a book is published.”

Combined dispatches