At William Morrow, Katherine Nintzel has been promoted to senior editor. At Delacorte Press, Krista Vitola has been promoted to assistant editor. Canadian crime novelist Michael Van Rooy died of a sudden heart attack while on tour for his latest book, A Criminal to Remember. He was 42 years old.CBC Obit Man Booker Prize judges will be supplied with e-readers to help them with incoming submissions.BBC Books & Books will open a new store in downtown Miami sometime between mid-February and early March.Miami Herald
Archives for January 2011
Borders Still Needs $125 Million from Publishers to Close GE Financing
Borders announced on Thursday night at long last what they have basically been saying for a month: they have a heavily-contingent financing “commitment” from GE Capital, Restructuring Finance for a new $550 million line of credit. Among the many complex “conditions” to obtain the new line is that $125 million in vendor payables must be converted into debt (or, alternately, that “external sources” provide an equivalent amount of additional financing.) Additionally, CEO Mike Edwards now admits (or threatens, depending upon how you view it) that “it is prudent as well for Borders to explore alternative avenues, including the possibility of […]
Amazon Says Kindle Sales Exceed Paperbacks–and Coincidentally, Profits Fall Even As Sales Rise Over $3 Billion
Amazon reported sales of $12.95 billion for the fourth quarter, up 36% from a year ago. But operating income actually declined, even with almost $3.5 billion in extra revenue, down $2 million at $474 million. The company says they sold “millions of third-generation Kindles” in the quarter, and indicates “Kindle books have now overtaken paperback books as the most popular format on Amazon.com” and “this milestone has come even sooner than we expected – and it’s on top of continued growth in paperback sales.” The company adds that, “since the beginning of the year, for every 100 paperback books Amazon […]
Amazon’s Grandinetti: “This Change Is Happening Faster than You Think”
Amazon’s vp, Kindle Content Russ Grandinetti addressed Digital Book World on Wednesday on “how we together can keep growing this business at a such a termendous rate.” Echoing other speakers from the conference, part of Grandinetti’s focus was on the potentially vast market for English-language ebooks in countries around the world. “I hope publishers think about this as the kind of opportunity that we do,” reminding people that Kindle is “available” in over 100 countries. Grandinetti also declared of the ebook market in general, “however fast you think this change is happening, its probably happening faster than you think.” He […]
More on the Singles Scene
Yesterday the NYT announced that they would publish their first digital-only book, OPEN SECRETS: WikiLeaks, War and American Diplomacy. In the paper’s own press release, they say the ebook publishes January 31 “through major e-booksellers.” The NYT’s own “product page” says you can buy the book now from Nook and links to their estore, adding that it’s “coming soon to Kindle, iBookstore and Google eBooks. And in Barnes & Noble’s press release yesterday, they said they were “the only company taking pre-orders” for the book, for “download later this week.” Nook owners are also promised “exclusive additional content from The […]
DBW: Making Sense of the Next 12 Months
DBW closed out Wednesday afterfoon with a lively panel co-hosted by Mike Shatzkin and Michael Cader discussing, debating, and sometimes agreeing on what changes will affect the publishing industry the most over the next twelve months. Moving beyond generalized statistics on the percentage of overall book sales in digital form, Simon Lipskar of Writers House noted that with publishing comprising a “multiplicity” of businesses, it’s important to make “a more granular level of distinctions between authors and audiences,” since some bestselling authors’ sales are now approaching 50% digital or more, while other authors are selling books at 20% or less. […]