The industry around questioning President Barack Obama’s birth is hardly ready to close. World Net Daily founder Joseph Farah now claims to Michael Isikoff that the book his company will publish in May, Where’s the Birth Certificate? The Case that Barack Obama is not Eligible to be President, isn’t really about the certificate after all. “Farah said the real issue is that Obama is still not eligible to be president because his father was Kenyan and his adopted father was Indonesian, making him a potential ‘dual citizen’ of two separate foreign countries. (Farah supplied no evidence to support his contention […]
Archives for April 2011
Team Behind Al Gore Enhanced Book App Aims to Reinvent the Form
A multimedia app version of Al Gore’s 2009 illustrated book OUR CHOICE went on sale today in Apple’s App Store, at an “introductory promotional” and “limited time only” price of $4.99 (compared to $26.99 for the color trade paperback). Produced by Melcher Media and start-up Push Pop Press, with support from Rodale, the app aims to be the proof-of-concept for a new approach to illustrated and enhanced/transmedia ebooks. The Gore app includes over a hour of video and audio narrations from the vice president with dozens of animations of clever “infographics” that reveal different and changing datasets as you move […]
Bookselling: Court Approves Davis-Kidd Deal; Monobookism; and More
Yesterday a Lexington bankruptcy court tentatively approved the results of the Joseph-Beth auction pending the entry of a sales order that’s expected Wednesday afternoon. The Lexington Herald-Leader reported the deal will close at the end of business Thursday, with the new owners taking over operations Friday morning. It puts three stores in the hands of Booksellers Enterprises for total consideration worth $3.98 million, with Joseph-Beth coo Mark Wilson serving as ceo of the new operating company. Liquidators Gordon Brothers bought the Virginia store for $672,000, and will sign the space over to Books-A-Million. Founder and former owner Neil van Uum’s […]
Next Wimpy Kid Set for Some Time in November
Jeff Kinney’s sixth installment of the bestselling Wimpy Kid series Amulet Books will go on sale this November. There is no additional information being released yet on laydown, cover or title, except that it will have a “winter theme” and “features the Heffley family being snowed in.” Abrams says that Kinney’s books have more than 50 million copies in print in the US and Canada.
Hachette Adds Another Nashville Imprint; F+W Adds Crime Imprint By Acquiring Tyrus Books
Hachette Book Group is launching a faith-based imprint called Jericho Books, launching in summer 2012. Led by publisher Wendy Grisham, the line will be part of the company’s Nashville division, which includes Faith Words and Center Street. She has been director of publishing for Hachette UK’s Hodder Faith imprint since 2007. Prior to that she was publishing director for EMEA, acting international publishing director at Alpha International, and rights manager at Random House UK. Grisham will work in Nashville, reporting to svp Rolf Zettersten, and “will continue to collaborate with the Hodder Faith team in the UK to acquire books, […]
Borders Judge Explains Bonus Approval
As promised, bankruptcy judge Martin Glenn has filed a lengthy opinion explaining why the revised Borders executive bonus plan eventually won approval. In the final version, Judge Glenn says the “maximum total cost” of the two incentive plans is $3.9 million. At least 47 senior corporate employees have left the bookseller since the company file for bankruptcy, and “store closings and further attrition” have taken the overall workforce from approximately 16,000 full- and part-time employees down to roughly 11,000. Judge Glenn warns that successful reorganization won’t come easily: “Since the ultimate fate of many recent retailer debtors has been liquidation, meeting […]