Grove Atlantic is selling a portion of its majority stake in the UK’s Atlantic Books, remaining as “a significant minority shareholder,” while Australia’s Allen and Unwin is becoming a “significant” shareholder itself. The company is said to have obtained “substantial” (we don’t know if that’s more or less than significant) new financing as well, in part to help drive the expansion of the Corvus line–all logical developments following Anthony Cheetham’s joining the company earlier this year. Morgan Entrekin will remain on the Atlantic Books board, now joined by Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Ravi Mirchandandi.Bookseller
Archives for October 2009
Baker & Taylor Launches POD Program; Lightning Serves Up Mueller
Baker & Taylor announced print-on-demand and digital-short run replenishment services, working with RR Donnelly. Meanwhile, Lightning Source has a release trumpeting how they helped the University of Nebraska Press meet the demand spike for Herta Mueller’s NADIRS after the announcement of her Nobel Prize victory.Release
Nelson Offers Self-Publishing
We’ve often wondered when publishers would find ways of saying “yes” to the slush pile instead of turning customers away. Having discussed the possibility at TOC last winter, Thomas Nelson has launched a self-publishing imprint, WestBow Press–though they are outsourcing the bulk of the operation to self-publishing giant Author Solutions. AS will design, publish and distribute the books. Nelson’s primary roles appears to be sharing revenue and promising customers an “opportunity to be discovered by parent company Thomas Nelson…. For authors who hope to one day be signed by a traditional publisher, this is an opportunity to get your foot […]
People
Lonely Planet has hired John Boris as managing director for the Americas. He was svp of marketing and interactive for Zagat’s. In a piece about the company, All Things Digital cites new ceo Matt Goldberg reporting that “Lonely Planet’s digital businesses have doubled their revenues to $20 million this year via premium pricing and advertising.” Lonely Planet was an early and successful player in building an online community of their fans/customers (including 700,000 registered members in their Thorn Tree community.) Among their digital initiatives, Goldberg cites “500,000 downloads from around 70 premium-priced apps” on various mobile platforms. ATD says, “While […]
Thomas Nelson Adds A Self-Publishing Line
We always wondered who would be first to find a way to say “yes” to the slush pile, and it turns out to be Nelson. Oddly, Nelson is outsourcing the job to self-publishing giant Author Solutions, which will design, publish and distribute the books under the name West Bow Press. Nelson won’t edit the books either. So what will they do? Share revenue, and “monitor sales to identify potential big sellers.”WSJ
Bookselling: Vroman's to Buy Book Soup, and More
Vroman’s of Pasadena has entered into an agreement to buy West Hollywood’s Book Soup from the heirs of the late Glenn Goldman. Vroman’s president Allison Hill told the LAT “Glenn and I had talked about it…and we’ve been in conversations with the seller since January.” Hill was the manager of Book Soup for six years. “There is an authenticity to what Book Soup is that we intend on honoring. We would be crazy to do this otherwise.” LAT But in a second LAT piece, there is hand-wringing over change (rather than celebration that the store will persist. Book Soup general […]