As previewed earlier this month, we’re rolling out more changes in how Lunch news is presented and available to you, by e-mail and throughout the day. For a long time we’ve presented news at PublishersMarketplace in a variety of ways, including “headline clips” and some individually posted items on the home page–but that process will now be more consistent, constant, and easy-to-track. The site version of Publishers Lunch Deluxe is basically turning into a 24/7 newsblog. All news items will post there first as they are ready; each item now has an individual permalink, two types of tags for searching, […]
Archives for July 2008
Borders Live with Audio Downloads
The promised inclusion of downloadable audiobooks at Borders’ web site has gone live, with “an initial 15,000 titles” on offer. The company says that over a third of those titles are available in (DRM-free) MP3 files. Starting today and running through Saturday, you can download a free audio version of Jon Krakauer’s INTO THE WILD, and an additional 15 titles from top authors (including the topical TWILIGHT by Stephenie Meyer) will sold at the promotional discount price of $9.95 through July 22. As noted previously, Borders has partnered with OverDrive for both the inventory and the underlying technology for the […]
Author Solutions Partners Include Alibris
First announced in June with 10 partners, Author Solutions has signed another 13 sites to the program that makes their self-publishing platform available to other entities on a revenue-sharing basis. Interestingly, among the latest partners is online bookselling powerhouse Alibris, which creates all kinds of interesting possibilities. Author Solutions calls the program “a turnkey revenue producer for online communities, printers, retailers, and publishers. The platform has all of our publishing expertise ‘baked in.’ It can be skinned with our partners’ branding and we provide all necessary IT and back-end support.”Release
Legal Fight Over Chicken Soup Split
The Chicken Soup for the Soul series has sparked a legal battle between the new owners and the former publisher, according to an article in the Miami Herald. As previously announced, Simon & Schuster was recently named the distributor for new titles in the line, following the purchase of publishing rights by a Connecticut investment group run by William Rouhana and Robert Jacobs from creators Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. A suit filed in Federal District Court in California “accuses Health Communications with interfering with the sale of the publishing and distribution rights and with trademark violations.” A separate […]
Profiling PW's Reviewers
Now that PW has started listing their previously anonymous book reviewers as contributors on the masthead, the Observer looked at the first list of “80-something names” and Googled a number of the names. “Who are these individuals? Enthusiasts, mainly. Schoolteachers, professors, stay-at-home moms, authors. It takes all kinds. We looked a handful of them up on Google, corresponded with a couple, and came up with some crude bios. Here’s an assortment.”Observer
'Lassie' heirs regain rights – Entertainment News, Film News, Media – Variety
The daughter of Eric Knight, author of Lassie Come Home, prevailed over Classic Media in a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling handed down on Friday that reversed a 2006 District Court decision and affirms Winifred Knight Mewborn’s 1996 letter terminating Classic Media’s rights. Variety says “the court’s opinion addressed a complicated issue of copyright law involving whether the law’s termination of transfer right is eradicated by a post-1978 assignment of the rights. In a victory for authors and their heirs, the court held that their rights are not terminated.”Click here for the PDF of the court’s rulingVariety article