Italian author Claudio Magris, best-known for DANUBE and MICROCOSMS, has been given the annual Frankfurt Booksellers Peace Prize. The AP notes he is “often considered a contender for the Nobel prize in literature. AP In Australia, Tim Winton has won the country’s top fiction prize, the Miles Franklin Award, for the fourth time, for his novel BREATH.
Archives for June 2009
Economy and Currency Pull Down Wiley Results
Sales fell 6.7 percent at Wiley in their fourth quarter, at $403 million and earnings per share decline 14.3 percent, with “continued softness in professional/trade and a decline in higher education.” The company says results rose on a currency-neutral basis. For the coming year, the company says “we anticipate revenue growth on a currency neutral basis” but “top-line results will be highly dependent on economic conditions around the world.” For the full fiscal year, revenue fell 3.7 percent to $1.6 billion reflecting a $120 million negative effect from foreign exchange (principally the declining British pound), and earnings per share declined […]
Simon & Schuster Announces Teen Social Network Site; Tor to Sell Books Online from Multiple Publishers
Building social networks around college textbooks has already showed promising results, and now Simon & Schuster had developed a book-focused social networking site for teens aged 14 to 18 called Pulse It. Site members can read one book a month online for free. S&S says books “will be a combination of titles that have just been released or are soon-to-be published.” Participants earn points for reviews and other posts and site actions, and can win free books and other prizes. Simon & Schuster says the site was a natural outgrowth of their Pulse It Advisory Board, which provided 3,000 teens […]
Everything Is Amazonated
At least once daily. Today in Amazon’s world, their latest acquisition is iPhone app maker SnapTell–the bane of physical retailers, whose app takes a picture of physical goods like books and then connects you to the online price and availability. SnapTell says on their blog, “One of the most heard requests was how we could integrate better with Amazon’s fabulous shopping experience.” In an e-mail reproduced on TechCrunch, Amazon has warned affiliates in North Carolina under their Associates program that if the state legislature passes a new sales tax law shortly as expected, “that would leave Amazon.com little choice but […]
New Appointments at Ingram, and Other Announcements
Following the broad merging of Ingram’s units into a single integrated Content Group, ceo David “Skip” Prichard has named Ingram executive Phil Ollila as chief content officer. He will oversee publisher services, comprising Lightning Source, CoreSource, the marketing group, and their distribution operation, Ingram Publisher Services. Lightning Source president David Taylor will be responsible for all publisher content acquisition activities, and Mark Ouimet becomes general manager of Ingram Publisher Services. Shawn Everson will serve as chief commercial officer, leading their businesses focused on library and retail channels. Rich Rosy will take over the library businesses, including Ingram Library Services, MyiLibrary, […]
Judge Blocks Unauthorized 60 Years Later In Temporary Order
US District Judge Deborah Batts issued a temporary restraining order preventing publication for at least the next 10 days of “JD California” (Frederik Colting’s) book (originally called a sequel to Catcher in the Rye), finding “substantial similarities” to the original novel. She said “I’ll issue a written decision as quickly as I can.” Batts was highly dubious in the initial hearing that Colting’s book offers any protected commentary or parody. “Let me be clear,” she said. “I am having difficulty seeing that it exists” at all. Colting’s attorney Edward Henry Rosenthal “did not dispute that the character is meant to […]