Ron Hogan has left Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s trade and reference division, where he was director of e-marketing strategy. Adrienne Schultz, most recently an editor at Portfolio, has left Penguin to begin freelance editing. At Dutton, Carrie Swetonic has been promoted to associate marketing director. Del Commune Enterprises is now scouting for Rowohlt Verlag in Germany. Alison Brook is joining Harper New Zealand in the new position of head of publishing, reporting to managing director Tony Fisk. She was publisher, nonfiction at Penguin New Zealand. In the UK, Nick Davies has been promoted to publishing director for nonfiction at Canongate. And […]
Archives for June 2010
S&S Release eBooks of McMurtry Backlist
As of today Simon & Schuster has issued all of their Larry McMurtry backlist in ebook editions. Later this month they will release two ebook “boxed” bundles of the Lonesome Dove series (comprising four titles, for $36.99) and the five-book Berrybender Narratives, at $31.99. They will also publish a 25th anniversary trade paperback edition of LONESOME DOVE with a new introduction on June 15.
Texas Attorney General Probes Agency Model and Apple
As reported in May, Apple is said to be the target of one potential Federal Trade Commission inquiry into their new requirements for software developers building apps for the iPhone operating system, and a second antitrust inquiry from the Department of Justice over their online music business. At least a few publishing eyebrows were raised last week when the NYT reported that “investigators had asked in particular about recent allegations that Apple used its dominant market position to persuade music labels to refuse to give the online retailer Amazon.com exclusive access to music about to be released.” Now Publishers Lunch […]
eNews Round-Up: iPad Sales, Cheaper Reader, Thinner Kindle, and More
Apple announced yesterday that, following the first stage of their international iPad rollout, they have sold over two millions units, in less than 60 days.Release Borders is betting on the cheap end of ereaders. As promised in last week’s conference call with investors, today they announced that as of July 2 they’ll sell a $119 ereader from Aluratek. (That undercuts the $150 Kobo reader they are helping to launch this month.)Borders pre-order page What does Amazon plan next? Bloomberg reported Friday that the next version of Kindle, due in August, will be “thinner and have a more responsive screen with […]
People
Swedish author Henning Mankell was among those on boats headed to the Gaza strip, and according to Agence France Press he is also one of nine Swedes now in Israeli custody following their attack on the flotilla. The wire service, which has been in touch with Sweden’s foreign ministry, says that the prisoners “have reportedly been given the choice” between deportation and a trial in Israeli court. Mankell had indicated in a statement before setting sail that he “was taking part in the flotilla to show his solidarity towards the Palestinian people.”AFP Rick Warren‘s big fall book THE HOPE YOU […]
Kobo Costs Weigh On Indigo In Weak Finish to Good Year
The ramp-up of Kobo impaired Canadian retailer Indigo’s earnings in their fourth quarter (ending April 3), down $1.4 million (CA) to just $500,000. While the Canadian market has been more stable than the US or the UK, Indigo’s sales suffered in the final quarter as well. Working on a 13-week comparison to the same quarter a year ago, superstore sales fell 2.7 percent and smaller format stores were down 5.8 percent, while online sales declined 3.3 percent. (They reported a 14-week fourth quarter, and a 53-week fiscal year.) CEO Heather Reisman blamed “no blockbuster hit to compete with last year’s […]