Early last week Dorchester enthusiastically announced that they will resume publishing “a full trade line” next month. That hopeful message was preceded by a vote of no confidence from the authors whom Dorchester still is said to owe royalties (and in some cases, reversions of rights as well). On April 22, representatives of a group of authors and publishing professionals who had formed unofficial unsecured creditors committee told Dorchester they were disbanding. “The Unofficial Committee has taken this step,” said the representative from law firm Lowenstein Sandler in an email obtained by us, “because it has determined that Dorchester will […]
Archives for May 2011
Lunch Weekly for Monday, May 9
The Key As usual, the handy key to our Lunch deal categories. While all reports are always welcome, those that include a category will generally receive a higher listing when it comes time to put them all together. “nice deal” $1 – $49,000 “very nice deal” $50,000 – $99,000 “good deal” $100,000 – $250,000 “significant deal” $251,000 – $499,000 “major deal” $500,000 and up Deal Reports Just e-mail to deals@PublishersMarketplace.com if you aren’t using the online form linked below. Report a deal using the online form FICTION Debut Alex Myers’s REVOLUTIONARY, the story of Deborah Sampson, who disguised herself as […]
Some Numbers of Self-Published eBooks
The Washington Post has a piece on the ebook self-publishing “gold rush,” but they include some balancing facts as well. For all the stories of impressive success, Smashwords founder Mark Coker says, “We have less than 50 people who are making more than $50,000 per year. We have a lot who don’t sell a single book.” Amazon’s Jeff Belle concurs: “There are a lot of books, even low-priced, on Kindle that are not selling at all.” Meanwhile, Barnes & Noble says PubIt, launched in October, features 14,500 authors and 90,000 titles (some of which come from Smashwords and others like […]
People, Etc.
Richard Florest has joined Open Road as director of acquisitions, Open Road Author Brands. Previously an editor at Weinstein Books and Miramax Books, Florest reports to publisher Brendan Cahill. Delia Berrigan Fakis has been promoted to executive literary agent at DSM Agency and will be representing projects in the areas narrative nonfiction, memoir, business, self-help, current events, inspiration, and literary fiction in addition to continuing to handle the sale of translation, audio and film rights for the agency. At Little, Brown, Michelle Aielli is moving up to director of publicity, and Sabrina Callahan has been promoted to assistant director of […]
The Week In eBook Sales
Publishers reported a lot of ebook numbers this week. Just to line them all up together: Hachette Book Group USA 22 percent HarperCollins US 19 percent Simon & Schuster (worldwide) 17 percent $26 million Harlequin 13.6 percent $15.7 million (CA) HarperCollins (worldwide) 11 percent Random House UK 8 percent Hachette UK 5 percent Simon & Schuster UK 3 percent (approximately)
Three of the Big Six Launch Bookish.com to Promote (and Sell) Books and Authors
Three of the largest trade publishers–Hachette Book Group, Penguin and Simon & Schuster–have founded and funded an independently-run site launching to connect readers with books and authors, Bookish.com. The unit’s predecessor Obikosh listed itself as having received between $10 million and $20 million in start-up funding. The site intends to build community and information around books and authors from all publishers, and though downplayed in the release, it will also sell ebooks and print books directly–along with referring customers to other retailers. The announcement underscores “Bookish is dedicated to working closely with book retailers, and in the coming weeks will […]