Publishers have been experimenting with promotional free downloads of books, and worrying about the risks of electronic piracy but there has been precious little data and analysis to work from. For the past eight months Brian O’Leary at Magellan Media has partnered with Random House and O’Reilly Media to rigorously study the “impact of free distribution on paid content,” which meant examining both giveaways and unauthorized peer-to-peer distribution. The ultimate objective is to develop “a model that describes instances in which free distribution works or may not work,” taking into account the variety of complex influences. The work is still […]
Archives for February 2009
Meyer Drives Lagardere to Finish the Year Ahead
Lagardere has announced preliminary figures for their fourth quarter and fiscal year. The pulishing unit had sales of 595 million euros for the final quarter powered by the “exceptional performance” of Stephenie Meyer in the US a “sold” sales of illustrated books in France, offsetting a “slowdown in sales” in the UK. Meyer sold 8 million books in the US in December alone, and over 28 million books in the year. Though they publish her in the UK as well, “success of Stephenie Meyer only partially compensated for the departure of James Patterson to another publisher and the non-recurrence of […]
Investment Firm Declares Big BN Stake
Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder, LLC (ASB)’s First Eagle Global Fund has accumulated a big chunk of Barnes & Noble stock. An SEC filing declares that the fun controls 11.7 percent of the bookseller’s shares, and with additional interests on behalf of clients their stake of more than 7 million shares comprises 12.77 percent of BN shares.
Guild Alerts Authors on Kindle Text-to-Speech
The Authors Guild posted a note that raises their concerns that text-to-speech software will “improve rapidly” and calls the inclusion of the feature on Kindle 2 “a significant challenge to the publishing industry.” They advise: “We’re studying this matter closely and will report back to you. In the meantime, we recommend that if you haven’t yet granted your e-book rights to backlist or other titles, this isn’t the time to start. If you have a new book contract and are negotiating your e-book rights, make sure Amazon’s use of those rights is part of the dialog. Publishers certainly could contractually […]
What Steve Rubin Is Doing
Steve Rubin’s new role at Random House, Inc. has been officially announced: his title is evp and publisher at large, reporting to ceo Markus Dohle. He will acquire books for (potentially) any and all imprints in Random House “worldwide in collaboration with our publishers in North America and overseas.” In particular, he will retain a role in acquiring future projects by such authors as John Grisham and Pat Conroy. Plus: “He will serve as a new-business advocate with the publishers. Steve will act as an international Random House publishing liaison to maximize the opportunities and collaboration among U.S. publishers and […]
Cheetham Quits Quercus
Non-executive chairman of Quercus Publishing Anthony Cheetham has stepped down, and director David Potter is taking over his post as interim chairman. Cheetham tells the Bookseller “Since assuming a non-executive position, I have felt less comfortable with my role in the company and with some of the key decisions adopted by management.” The company’s ability to continue its rapid expansion ran up squarely against the credit squeeze. “I felt standing still was not the wisest option,” Cheetham says. Co-founder Mark Smith says “We’re in the middle of a deep recession – we need to step back a little on our […]