Literary agent Wendy Lipkind passed away on May 9 from cancer at the age of 68. She founded the Wendy Lipkind Literary Agency in 1977, representing a diverse group of non-fiction writers including Ross Greene, Barry Sears, Cynthia Fuchs Epstein and Constance Hale. A private funeral will be held on Friday May 13, and donations in Wendy’s memory may be made to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids or The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation. She is survived by her husband, Hillel Black, and her son, Harry Black. Legacy.com guestbook Abby Levine will retire in June after 28 years of […]
Archives for May 2011
With First Quarter Sales and Profits Up, Quarto Switches to Reporting in US Currency
Quarto reported first quarter sales of $32.6 million, up 5 percent from a year ago and the first time the company has reported earnings in US dollar values, which means “the impact of currency is much reduced.” EBIDTA rose slightly to $5.28 million and operating profit was up by 10 percent to $500,000, the margins still relatively slim on what they deem a “very quiet period.” Ceo Laurence Orbach commented in a statement that Quarto was “making good progress on its growth strategy,” which included the February acquisition of Cool Springs Press. With respect to ebooks, Quarto expects to generate […]
Making Information Pay Presentations
BISG has posted the slide presentations from last week’s Making Information Pay conference. Among the highlights were Hachette Book Group’s COO Ken Michaels impressive account of how the company has rebuilt its structure and processes for the new publishing paradigm–from creating content once in a centralized, standard way that drives all forms of distribution and all parts of the publicity and marketing process to reenvisioning job titles and management structure for new ways of doing business. Andrew Savikas reminded everyone how even a technical publisher like O’Reilly needed to learn by constant experimentation over the past five years, and the […]
eNews: iFlow Reader Shuts Down, Blaming Apple’s New Policy; Kobo eReader Price Drop; and More
In advance of any official reckoning between Apple’s reinterpreted rule requiring “that if an app offers customers the ability to purchase books outside of the app, that the same option is also available to customers from within the app with in-app purchase,” the makers of the iFlow Reader app are angrily throwing in the towel. BeamItDown Software publisher Philip Huber announced that the company and its ereading app will cease operations on May 31. They launched their ebookstore in December 2010 and say in a posted letter to customers that “two months later, Apple changed the rules and put us […]
Scott Moyers Leaves Wylie, Returns to Penguin Press As Publisher
Scott Moyers is leaving The Wylie Agency to rejoin Penguin Press, which he departed in 2007, on May 16. When Moyers left he was editor-in-chief and now he will serve as publisher. Ann Godoff remains as president, and according to the NYT she will take on the title of editor-in-chief as well (she had also been publisher). Current editor-in-chief Eamon Dolan will, as of Monday, become vp, executive editor. The line will be “expanding its frontlist by 50 percent in course of the next year,” from about 40 titles to approximately 60. The release makes a point of saying “the […]
Random UK Goes Agency; Ed Victor Launches Publisher; and More eNews
There is a lot of ebook news from the UK, today. Random House UK has adopted the agency model, following a similar move at the beginning of March in the US. As of today, the company’s approximately 6,000 ebook titles are available for sale through Apple’s iBookstore in the UK as a result. Random UK spokesperson Maureen Corish says “We were the only major English language trade publisher not to have our ebooks on sale via the iBookstore, so today’s announcement sees us forging a new commercial relationship as part of our commitment to increasing consumer choice and making our […]