California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that requires online retailers with affiliates in the state to collect sales tax. Amazon promptly informed its thousands of California affiliates that it was terminate those relationships, effective immediately. The company said in an e-mail that it is “also working on alternative ways to help California residents monetize their websites and will be sure to contact you when these become available.”
Archives for June 2011
Bookselling: Stores to Close Pittsfield, MA; Kent, OH; and Occoquan, VA
Today brings the news of three store closings. DuBois Bookstore, a family-owned institution which opened 75 years ago near Kent State University, closed Tuesday without prior warning. “After almost 75 years of business, it has been an honor and a privilege to serve the students, faculty and staff of Kent State University and the community of Kent. Thank you for your patronage” read a message on the bookstore’s Facebook page. No additional explanation was given by the store’s owners. Record Publishing On July 21, Chapters Bookstore in Pittsfield, MA will close after just three years in business. Susan and Leo […]
eNews: Open Road Pairs with Bedford Square, and More
Indicated previously as under discussion, the Ed Victor Agency’s new publishing arm Bedford Square Books has formalized a partnership with Open Road, which will digitally publish, market, and distribute Bedford Square titles in North America. At the Publishers Launch Conference in London last week, Ed Victor Agency’s Charlie Campbell indicated that Open Road would serve as publisher on at least some if not all Bedford Square Books (with the Victor entities charging a regular agency commission only) and added that “on those that they don’t want to publish, they may distribute.” At the time, Campbell called Bedford Square “a publishing […]
People, Etc.: New Ceo at VBK, New Leadership for Fodor’s, and More
Wiet de Bruijn has been named as the new ceo of Holland’s general books line Veen, Bosch and Keuning Publishers, a division of NDC|VBK (which includes the imprints Ambo|Anthos, Artemis, Atlas, Business Contact, Contact, De Fontein|Tirion, Kok, Kosmos, Luitingh-Sijthoff, Mouria, Ten Have and L.J. Veen). He succeeds Bert de Groot, who retires on July 1. De Groot will continue to serve as an advisor to the NDC|VBK executive board. An independent consultant and entrepreneur, de Bruijn’s publishing experience dates from the 90s, when he was CEO of Van Dijk Educational Books. Random House Inc. vp of digital publishing development Nina […]
Options for Library eBook Lending Expand Rapidly
The library ebook lending market is getting increasingly competitive, and diverse. At this year’s ALA Conference in New Orleans, major new ebook lending schemes, product improvements and new business models have been announced by a variety of players. 3M officially unveiled their comprehensive new ebook lending service offering, and is in the middle of a battle over whether libraries that have been OverDrive customers are contractually allowed to move their already-purchased ebook collections to 3M or other vendors. (Permission is required from the publishers in any event. The Kansas Digital Library Consortium is the system testing this provision, and they […]
More eNews: Dystel & Goderich Will ‘Formally Represent’ Self-Pubbed Work By Clients, Kindle Heads to France, and More
Dystel & Goderich Literary Management, which represents several notable self-publishing successes including J.A. Konrath and John Locke, announced on their blog they will officially “represent” clients who want to self-publish and help them with the process. As they explain: “what we are going to do is to facilitate e-publishing for those of our clients who decide that they want to go this route, after consultation and strategizing about whether they should try traditional publishing first or perhaps simply set aside the current book and move on to the next.” DGLM will charge their regular 15 percent commission for services in […]