The WSJ reported lasted night that HarperCollins is negotiating terms with Apple for making ebooks available on the company’s forthcoming new device, along with unnamed other publishers. Which is correct, but is just a sliver of the story that is emerging, albeit changing all the time. Apple, whose representatives are in New York for meetings this week, is acknowledged by participants as currently negotiating with nearly all (and most likely all) of the six largest trade publishers, though those negotiations were supposed to be confidential. Multiple participants caution that negotiations are complex, far from complete, and may be hard to […]
Archives for January 2010
Harper Creates New Digital Group; S&S Realigns Australian Division Under New M.D.
Harper is creating a new New York-based unit, HarperCollins Digital, which will “work ever more closely with our operating divisions to create content, marketing reach, products, communities, and consumer knowledge that has direct and measurable benefits for our authors and the sales of their work.” The Digital group, under chief digital officer Charlie Redmayne, will feature three teams, focused on author services, consumer products, and business development. Carolyn Pittis will become svp, HarperCollins Digital, global author services, “focused on establishing and building an industry-leading author services proposition, for all divisions of our company.” Redmayne writes in a memo the company […]
People: Robert B. Parker, 77, Dies, Plus MWA Nominees
Author Robert B. Parker, 77, died “just sitting at his desk” at home, according to his British publisher Quercus, cited by Sarah Weinman on her blog. Parker novels scheduled for publication in 2010 include SPLIT IMAGE, the newest Jesse Stone novel (out February 23) and BLUE-EYED DEVIL, an Appaloosa novel (May 4). Blog post The Mystery Writers of America announced their 2010 Edgar awards nominees.Release
Publishers Donate to Haiti
On Friday Random House, Inc. announced a $100,000 corporate contribution to be shared by the American Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund and Haitian health-care provider Partners in Health (led by Paul Farmer, the subject of Tracy Kidder’s MOUNTAINS BEYOND MOUNTAINS). The publisher told employees they will match their donations, dollar for dollar up to $1,000, to any tax-qualifying Haitian earthquake relief organization until June 1. Parnet company Bertelsmann has also announced a 100,000-euro donation to children’s relief organization Plan International. In a different type of relief effort, Simon & Schuster’s Pimsleur division is providing free downloads of their Haitian Creole […]
Pearson Raises Earnings Guidance for the Year
In a trading advisory ahead of their annual earnings report on March 1, Pearson told investors that they expect to show earnings per share growth of “around 10%, ahead of our previous guidance and the current consensus of market expectations (approximately 61 pence per share.) The company says, “Throughout the year, we have benefited from strong growth in US higher education; good profit improvement in US school testing and international education; and the resilience of professional testing and our subscription-based businesses in the FT Group…. In addition, in the fourth quarter we began to see the first signs of trading […]
Borders Underperforms Again; Holiday Superstore Comps Down 14.6%
Borders tries to disguise the growing shortfall in their overall holiday numbers by reporting for the eleven-weeks ending January 16 instead of the traditional nine-week week view they have used previously, but the percentages tell the tale. Same-store sales at their superstores fell 14.7 percent compared to last year, on revenue of $649.2 million, down 13.7 percent overall. But comps excluding multimedia (the business they’ve been exiting for years now) were down a mere 10.9 percent. Waldenbook comps for the select stores that will remain open (again, a special qualifier designed to make things sound better) were down 9.4 percent, […]