The 11-store airport chain HMSHost, which sells under the Simply Books and Authors Bookstores banners, has become the unlikely first travel retailer to sell Kindles.Release In other Kindle news, yesterday Amazon announced the release of a free reading app for the fast-growing Android platform.Release In an interview with Fortune, Jeff Bezos paints himself as a missionary. “We think of it [the Kindle platform] as a mission. I strongly believe that missionaries make better products. They care more. For a missionary, it’s not just about the business. There has to be a business, and the business has to make sense, but […]
Archives for June 2010
People, Etc.
Penguin Australia marketing and publicity director Dan Ruffino is being promoted to group digital director for Penguin Group worldwide, starting September 1 based in New York. He will report to chairman and ceo John Makinson and “focus on digital publishing and new digital revenue opportunities; direct to consumer communication and business intelligence; and global partnerships.” Makinson comments: “He is a hugely talented marketing professional who has spent the last six years thinking about ways to make our content more enticing to the consumer. He has all the right qualifications and qualities for the job, but, above all, he has the […]
Nook Lifts BN Sales, While Adding to Losses, As Bookstore Comps Fall 3.1%
Barnes & Noble gave some sense of what Nook is worth to the company in reporting fourth quarter earnings (and forward guidance for fiscal 2011). BN.com sales–where Nook units and ebooks are both recorded–rose by about $44 million in the quarter, at $141 million overall up 51 percent from a year ago. And for 2011, the company expects BN.com sales to rise “approximately 75 percent to $1 billion.” So they expect to gain another $425 million in the year ahead from Nook device and ebook unit sales. (Note that for comparison purposes, their sales estimate “reflects the actual retail selling […]
Lunch Weekly for Monday, June 28
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 Screenwriter of FANBOYS Ernie Cline’s READY PLAYER ONE, pitched as Charlie […]
Meyer Tops A Million
Little, Brown Children’s says that it has sold over a million copies of Stephenie Meyer’s novella A THE SHORT SECOND LIFE OF BREE TANNER since its release on June 5–making it “the biggest selling new book of the year so far.” In other publisher announcements, Bantam will release Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow’s THE GRAND DESIGN on September 7.
People
For the New York office of their Nashville division, Hachette Book Group has hired Kate Hartson as senior editor for the Center Street imprint and Andrea Glickson as marketing director for both FaithWords and Center Street. Most recently Hartson built her own small publishing company, Yorkville Press. Glickson was at HBG’s recently-closed Octopus Books USA line. As another part of the Nashville “realignment plan,” editor Christina Boys will now exclusively acquire fiction for both FaithWords and Center Street. Separately, at Hachette Digital, Neil DeYoung has been promoted to executive director; Liz Kessler moves up to the new position of digital […]