Harlequin’s parent company Torstar reported second quarter sales of $124.1 million (CA), down $6.2 million, and operating profit of $20.4 million, up $700,000 from a year ago. Calling it “another strong performance at Harlequin,” they say that sales rose excluding the rise in the Canadian dollar. Looking forward, they expect a “relatively stable year” at Harlequin, “including the negative earnings impact of foreign exchange. The growth in the North America digital sales and the acquisition of the other half of the German joint venture in April 2010 will offset the expected decline from the Softbank contribution, lower North America Retail […]
Archives for July 2010
Grand Central Associate Publisher Les Pockell Dies at 68 of Cancer
Grand Central associate publisher for the past decade Les Pockell, 68, died at home on Monday. Publisher Jamie Raab tells the AP “she liked to call him ‘The Professor’ because Pockell knew so much about so many subjects and would become visibly animated in discussion. ‘He was the smartest person we knew.'” His former boss Larry Kirshbaum “remembered Pockell as a thinking man who stood out at a relatively commercial publishing house. He was also regarded as a mentor with a great deal to teach and a willingness to let others take the credit.”AP
New Copyright Exceptions Open the Door Somewhat on Text-to-Speech
The Librarian of Congress published six new exemptions to prohibitions under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that allow the relaxation of digital access in certain circumstances. Most general media is focused on the aspects that let iPhone owners legally overcome some of Apple’s strict rules, but the sixth and final change applies to ebooks and text-to-speech functionality. While TTS still ranks as one of the most overblown issues in the eBook Era, the new rule will certainly attract interest and may lead to some strategic changes. The published text now exempts: “Literary works distributed in ebook format when all existing […]
Susan Kamil Promoted to Publisher at Random House
Gina Centrello announced this morning the promotion of Random House editor-in-chief Susan Kamil to publisher of both the Random House and Dial Press imprints, reporting Centrello. Most editorial staff will report to Kamil, who will “continue to edit a select number of books a year”–except for Kate Medina, who continues to report directly to Centrello. In other adjustments, Tom Perry is relinquishing his responsibilities for the entire Random House publishing group to return to Little Random as deputy publisher, and he will serve as publisher of The Modern Library as well.Theresa Zoro moves up to svp, director of publicity for […]
Good, Evil and Jack-All
While the UK media is stuck in their cliched mode of writing about Andrew Wylie’s Jackalicious adventures–today’s Independent offers up three stories all amounting to little–some trade wag is having a lot of fun. Under the Twitter handle “EvilWylie” have come a string of zingers starting last Friday afternoon with “All your contracts are belong to me! muah ha ha ha ha.” New followers are rewarded with exclusive rights grants (“Evil Wylie has granted you exclusive rights to write like @margaretatwood writing like Stephen King”) there are numerous special offers: “Sizzling summer deals! Evil Wylie just posted e-book rights to […]
Stieg Larsson Is Founding Member of Amazon “Kindle Million Club”
Amazon announced this morning that the late Larsson “has become the first author to sell over 1 million Kindle books.” In his honor they are starting an official “Kindle Million Club” and he is the first card-holding member. (Insert tasteless joke about what happens in the clubhouse here.)Release