As Kindle International starts shipping, Plastic Logic issue a vapor release telling the world that they will finally announce pricing and confirm productions details on their new e-reader January 7 at the Consumer Electronics Show. In the meantime, they have given It a name: “Que” (full name: Que proReader.) AT&T is their wireless service provider. iRex announced that they are working with NewspaperDirect and LibreDigital to make a wealth of newspapers and magazines available–both as single copies as well as by subscription–on their about-to-release unit. North American ceo Kevin Hamilton tells PaidContent about a third strategy they are working on, […]
Archives for October 2009
Lunch Weekly for Monday, October 19
Deal Reports Just e-mail to deals@PublishersMarketplace if you aren’t using the online form linked below. Report a deal using the online form The Key As usual, the handy key to our Lunch deal categories. While all reports are always welcome, those that include a category will generally receive a higher listing when it comes time to put them all together. “nice deal” $1 – $49,000 “very nice deal” $50,000 – $99,000 “good deal” $100,000 – $250,000 “significant deal” $251,000 – $499,000 “major deal” $500,000 and up FICTION Debut O. Henry Prize winner and 2009 Atlantic Fiction Issue contributor, Alexi […]
People and More
At Penguin Canada, editor Nicole Winstanley will take over as publisher as president David Davidar takes on additional responsibilities as ceo of Penguin International. The unit will also launch an Allen Lane Canada imprint in 2010, with Diane Turbide running the new nonfiction program as publishing director. Managing director Andrea Magyar will give up most of her editorial responsibilities to become vp of business development. Focusing on custom publishing opportunities, she’ll report directly to Davidar. Speaking of imprints, at last week’s Bouchercon Little, Brown publisher Michael Pietsch mentioned briefly that the house is working on a new crime fiction imprint. […]
Price War Continues: Walmart Vows to Cut More, HBG's Young Speaks Out
Walmart.com spokesman Ravi Jariwala told the WSJ the company will continue to adjust prices on their promotional pre-order books “so that Walmart.com offers the lowest online prices” after two rounds of price-matching from Amazon. Similarly, ceo Raul Vazquez told the Journal on Thursday they “will go as low as we need to” in order to become a low-price leader. If you’re losing money already to prove a point, then why not lose some more–but if Amazon keeps playing along, the two companies could push the price of lead titles to unimaginably low levels. For the moment, as of Friday afternoon […]
Barnes & Noble to Close Remaining B. Dalton Stores
After closing 35 to 40 B. Dalton stores a year for years now, Barnes & Noble is preparing to shutter the last remaining group of 50 Dalton outlets. Spokesperson Carolyn Brown notes, “These are small-format, low-volume stores in malls and their leases are expiring.” All but two B. Dalton stores will be closed within the next few months, with outlets in Washington, DC and Roosevelt Field, Long Island remaining open until their leases expire. Brown says some “booksellers will be offered a chance to move to Barnes & Noble stores in the cases where there are Barnes & Noble stores […]
Price War: $9 Hardcovers at Walmart.com–and Amazon Matches
Following the Amazon ebook pricing reset that publishers have cursed and feared, on Thursday Walmart.com dropped the price on their top 10 pre-orders titles (Palin, Crichton, Grisham, Crichton, Patterson, Koontz, etc.) to an even $10, with free shipping included. More broadly, they are offering their top 200 books at discounts of 50 percent or more in a program called America’s Reading List. Later in the day, Amazon matched Wal-Mart’s pricing–and today both sites have dropped those ten promotional titles to just $9. Walmart.com ceo Raul Vazuez told the paper, “If there is going to be a ‘Wal-Mart of the Web’, […]