With Barnes & Noble College already in the textbook rental business, along with the other big college bookstore operator Follett–which partnered with BookRenter.com–Chegg.com has turned to Borders for an “exclusive partnership.” While Borders does less business with college students, the company did launch an online Textbook Marketplace powered by Alibris in July. The Chegg textbook rentals will be featured in that marketplace. Chegg raised another $75 million in financing in September (making over $160 million in venture capital, and another $55 million in debt poured into the company) and Tech Crunch says they are estimated to have $130 million in […]
Archives for November 2010
eNews: Kno’s Pricing; Grisham’s eBook Makes Up for Hardcover Shortfall; Amazon Said to Negotiate German eBooks; E Ink’s Triton
Kno, the tablet maker focused on the higher education textbook market, has announced pricing for their forthcoming devices. Their giant dual-screen, 14.1-inch tablet will sell for $899, and the single-screen model will list for $599. Their pitch is that “when you do the math, it actually pays for itself and still saves $1,300 in digital textbook costs.” They are taking “limited” pre-orders for first shipments before the end of the year, targeting 10 US college campuses to start. CEO Osman Rashid tells the WSJ that in beta testing they “found that 85 percent of those using the single screen wanted […]
People
Lisa Faith Phillips has joined Hachette Book Group as director of digital strategy and development, reporting to Maja Thomas. Most recently she was a digital marketing consultant with Flip Global Marketing; previously she worked at Random House Direct as vp and general manager. Canongate digital editor Dan Franklin is moving to Random House UK where he will hold the same position, working across the group. Starting January 4, he will report to editorial director for ebooks and audio Zoe Willis. Group digital director Fionnuala Duggan says “part of his remit will be to help widen our focus to include direct […]
It’s Official: Rosenthal to Start Imprint at Penguin in 2011
Former publisher of the Simon & Schuster imprint David Rosenthal will indeed join Penguin, where he will set up a new, unnamed general trade imprint. He will start there on January 10, reporting to president Susan Petersen Kennedy. Launching in fall 2011, the imprint will comprise “an eclectic mix” of hardcover fiction and nonfiction, including suspense fiction, popular biography, literary novels, humor, music, and contemporary politics. The goal is to l “ultimately publish between 24 and 36 original titles per year.” How many of those will be former Simon & Schuster authors? Kennedy says to the NYT, “he has a […]
Kids Color eReader Announced, with Houghton As Partner
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced a partnership with a local start-up Isabella Products, which is launching a tabletish color ereader targeted at children in mid-2011. Called the Fable, the seven-inch touchscreen device will use the Android operating system and is expected to sell for between $149 and $179 (plus cellular connection fees). “Several” HMH books will be pre-loaded on the device, and Isabella ceo Matthew Growley says they “have right now four other publishers signed up,” though he would not name them. (That implies, but does not state, that the company is thinking of a proprietary store and/or format. The device […]
Random House Offers A Big Part of Their Headquarters Building for Sublet
Random House is looking to sublet up to nine of their 24 floors in their office building on Broadway, comprising as much as 250,000 of 645,000 square feet. Spokesman Stuart Applebaum tells the WSJ that dealing with the Peter Olson-era albatross presents a “potential savings in the millions of dollars.” He notes, “We’re in the book business, not the real-estate business. We’ll reinvest our savings into our publishing.” (With an asking rent of $55 a foot, the sublet could comprise close to $14 million annually.) Applebaum says that approximately 30 percent of Random House’s office space is currently vacant. But […]