The Bookseller is reporting this today. Looks as if Open Road must not have finalized it’s contractual negotiations. Open Road had announced that it would be bringing out an ebook edition of Catch-22. However:
Heller’s estate appears to have had a change of heart, with S&S offering the additional enticement of a special 50th anniversary edition in hardcover and paperback next year, featuring an introduction by Christopher Buckley and reprints of essays by Norman Mailer, Anthony Burgess and others. The book was first pubished in 1961.
“We were in regular talks with Joseph Heller’s literary agency regarding e-book rights for over a year,” Jonathan Karp, publisher of Simon & Schuster’s flagship imprint, told the Associated Press. “With the 50th anniversary of Catch-22 approaching, and with e-books becoming an increasingly significant percentage of overall sales, we both realized the benefits of coming to terms sooner rather than later, and happily we did.”
