Ballantine will publish a 6,000-word digital short story from Steve Berry in September for $1.99 that bridges to his November 23 book release THE EMPEROR’S TOMB. The WSJ calls it “a literary appetizer, inexpensive enough to attract potential readers who might otherwise not be willing to buy a new novel from an author whose works they haven’t yet read.” Matt Schwartz at Random House says, “realistically, it would be hard to get something like this in print. But the e-book format is very flexible. What this does is offer an affordable entry point into Steve’s world.” In the press release, […]
Archives for May 2010
From the eVendors: Libre Raises Another $8.1 Mil; Overdrive Debuts Consolidated Apps; Self-Publishing from BookMasters; Follett Integrates Moodle with CafeScribe
LibreDigital announced another round of financing, raising $8.1 million in a round led by new investor S3 Ventures, with participation from existing investors Adams Capital Management and Triangle Peak Partners. Libre has been in search of the right application of their technology for over ten years (when they started as Newsstand to provide digital copies of newspapers) and now they are riding the ramp up in the ebook market. CEO Russell Reeder says the funding “will be used to accelerate the delivery of e-books, and expand our technology offerings to include new solutions that help publishers better promote and sell […]
People, Etc.
Liz Johnson is joining Thomas Nelson as the marketing specialist for the Max Lucado branding team. She worked in publicity for WaterBrook Multnomah for four years. NBN has taken over sales, marketing and distribution for city travel guide publisher Not For Tourists. They had been distributed by Langenscheidt.
Everything BEA
Today’s news bulletin is that Oprah Magazine editor-at-large Gayle King has been enlisted to interview Barbra Streisand in Tuesday night’s keynote reception. App-ly Now<img align=”right” src=http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/icon.png width=”80″ border=”0″ alt=””>We’ve had a lot of enthusiastic reactions to yesterday’s launch of our handy, feature-packed convention mobile web app, Publishers Lunch: BEA To Go. Load it into your mobile phone so you’ll be all set next week. Plus, I think you’ll find that our customized slicing of the complex BEA schedule makes it easier to plan your show time now than burrowing through the official BEA site. We’ve separated out the Main Events, […]
Barnes & Noble Launches Online Self-Publishing Program, PubIt!
BN has finally announced an electronic self-publishing program via BN.com and their ebookstore to compete with Amazon and others, “coming in summer.” The company announced scant details, but assures independent publishers and individual authors that they “will appreciate PubIt!’s simple and competitive royalty model and compensation process.” As described on their placeholder web page, they will convert digital files to EPUB. The program is pitched for both ebooks and broader “digital content.” Director of digital products Theresa Horner is the BN executive quoted in the release.Release
Today's Bulletins from Open Road, Vook, Amazon, Kobo and Google Editions
Open Road has announced their first original title, former diplomat Mitchell Reiss’s NEGOTIATING WITH EVIL, “a guide to talking — or not talking — to terrorists and insurgents.” Reiss met Jane Friedman while traveling last year in Africa. He’s getting no advance, and a 50 percent profit share. The ebook releases in September with a print version to follow. Friedman reiterates her belief that “exciting videos are going to move the needle” in marketing books. Speaking of videos, the latest Vook adds studio and concert footage and interviews to a version of Marc Canter’s Guns N’ Roses book RECKLESS ROAD […]