Diesel eBookstore celebrates the restoration of the final agency model publisher to their store with a look at agency six months later. Writing that “the A5 performed an impressive near-checkmate on the eBook chessboard,” they look at the pros and cons of operating in a partial-agency world. Among the weak points–related to the two stories above–are limitations to selling agency ebooks exclusively in the US: “Without exception, all A5 publishers now offer their eBook titles in the US only. Needless to say, our foreign customers are very upset. We, here at Diesel, have been very vocal with our A5 publishing […]
Archives for November 2010
People, Imprints, Awards, Etc.
Lindsay Sagnette will join Crown as senior editor, acquiring hardcover fiction, reporting to Molly Stern and starting November 15. She was most recently an editor at St. Martin’s, following stints at Riverhead and Grove/Atlantic. Jeanette Perez is being promoted to senior editor at Harper One, acquiring primarily non-fiction in the areas of personal growth, health, lifestyle, and memoir. Kristin Daly Rens has been promoted to senior editor at Harper Children’s imprint Balzer & Bray. Atria is launching an imprint in conjunction with music label Cash Money Records, which issues records from Lil Wayne and others. Publishing under Cash Money Content, […]
Harlequin Continues Pattern: Sales Slide, As Profits Stay Strong
Harlequin parent company Torstar reported that book publishing had “stable results” in their third quarter. Following their recent pattern, sales fell slightly, down $5 million at $117.5 milion (CA) as operating profit for the segment rose $100,000 to $23 million, the seventh consecutive quarter of earnings growth.Release
Borders Said to Plan Closing of LaVergne Distribution Center; Employees Speculate On Store Closings
Tennessee labor officials disclosed that Borders Group has begun eliminating another 96 jobs from their 564,000-square-foot distribution center in La Vergne, which the Nashville Post now says will close entirely on December 23. The company has had at least two rounds of layoffs at that facility earlier in this, attributed in part to the relocation of their returns center to Pennsylvania in March and a reduction in their customer call center in August. As of a year ago the center was reported to employ more than 600 people. We requested further clarification from the company, but have not heard back […]
eNews: HBG Joins Net Galley; RoyaltyShare Adds Price Monitor; Dzanc’s eBook Club; Scholastic Adds Nintendo Games
– Hachette Book Group is now working with Net Galley to distribute digital galleys and press kits. – Working with HBG in a different context, RoyaltyShare has added a “sales feed price validation” tool to their ebook sales and royalty tracking service. The new addition is particularly useful for agency publishers in order to determine “whether reported eBook transaction prices are accurate” and “allowing them to potentially recoup tens of thousands of dollars of revenue that might otherwise never be identified.” HBG coo Ken Michaels says in the announcement, “The ability to identify pricing anomalies on a transaction-by-transaction basis in […]
Two CEOs on Price, As the UK Encounters Deja Vu All Over Again
Within the last day two book publishing ceos have put up detailed posts on the costs and complexities of well-executed digital publishing. Sourcebooks ceo Dominique Raccah’s essay presents information we’ve covered before based on her conference presentations of this material (including at last year’s BEA) but is well worth reading if you have not seen her presentations.Sourcebooks Thomas Nelson ceo Mike Hyatt’s post “Why Do eBooks Cost So Much? (A Publisher’s Perspective) is interesting both for the points he makes as well as his engagement with his readers, since his blog is designed to elicit comments and he engages diligently […]