Amazon has excitedly started shipping their ad-support Kindles a week early–which raises the question of who is going to advertise on the device. Given what we’ve been told about the pitch, it probably won’t be publishers, even though Amazon doesn’t include “literary references” among the categories of ads that users can designate as preferred, and you can see how a Kindle would be a good place to advertise books. But not at the premium prices Amazon is looking for. According to the company’s rate sheet, they are charging $45,000 a day for ads that share the screen savers with up […]
Archives for April 2011
People, Etc.
Kathryn Beaumont has joined Kneerim and Williams as an agent. She has been a reporter, editor and working lawyer for the past 15 years. Rochelle Stolzenberg will oversee all online sales in the US for TheReadingRoom.com. (She also sells advertising for Publishers Lunch, and has represented other properties such as The Daily Beast.) South African Lauren Beukes won the UK’s Arthur C Clarke award for science fiction for her novel ZOO CITY, published by Angry Robot. Ian McDonald had been considered the favorite, and other nominees included Richard Powers. Guardian Most publishing people who think about BitTorrent are trying to […]
Robert B. Parker Estate Taps New Writers to Continue Spenser and Jesse Stone Series
Putnam announced that two series by bestselling mystery writer Robert B. Parker, who died in January 2010, will continue in the hands of new writers. Producer and screenwriter Michael Brandman will write the first new Parker brand book, ROBERT B. PARKER’S KILLING THE BLUES, which continues the Jesse Stone series and which will publish on September 13. Brandman already has considerable experience with the character as he co-wrote and co-produced the television movies featuring Tom Selleck as Jesse Stone. Ace Atkins, whose last few novels have been published by Putnam (and who begins a new series of his own with […]
Company News from Macmillan, M&S, and Vook
McClelland & Stewart announced a new non-fiction imprint, Signal, that will be “dedicated to the power of ideas and original thinking.” Titles published by Signal will encompass politics, religion, culture, history, business, and the environment by authors including Margaret Atwood, Christopher Hitchens, Ezra Levant, Samantha Nutt and Alain de Botton. In a release M&S president and publisher Doug Pepper says, “our goal with Signal is to publish creative, daring, and intellectually significant works of non-fiction that stir the pot and raise our awareness of the most important issues of the day, Signal Website Macmillan has relaunched its Criminal Element site […]
Van Uum Appears to Buy Back Memphis Store; Aletheia Trims BN Position; More From Borders On Customer Data
The Davis-Kidd saga continues in unexpected but hopeful ways. After Neil Van Uum lost out to his Lexington landlord Robert Langley in bidding for three of the Joseph-Beth bookstores, it now looks as if Van Uum has prevailed over Langley’s group in arranging to keep the Memphis Davis-Kidd location operating as a bookstore. The store’s Memphis landlord Tom Prewitt had backed Van Uum’s original bid for some of the bookstores. In the initial bankruptcy auction, liquidator Gordon Brothers Retail bought the assets of the Memphis store. But a new group led by Van Uum, DK Booksellers, “has agreed to purchase […]
Sales Still Climb for Amazon, but Q1 Profits Fall Further
Amazon reported first quarter sales of $9.86 billion, up 38 percent from a year ago, but for the fourth straight quarter–and as guided three months ago–net income fell to $201 million, down by a third, and operating income declined to $322 million, a $72 million drop as compared to last year. Earnings per share of 44 cents were well below analysts’ estimates of 61 cents a share, but sales were higher than predicted. While an earnings shortfall usually leads to a big drop in the stock, Amazon’s shares are rising in this morning’s trading. The company’s margins continue to fall […]