Rosetta Books is launching a Crimescape digital imprint, featuring short-form true crime writing from established authors. They are starting with six titles, adding at least two new titles a month. All titles will be Kindle exclusives for one year. Running 10,000 to 20,000 words, the initial selections are all priced at $2.99. Founder of CrimeLibrary.com Marilyn Bardsley is overseeing the line for Rosetta, “focusing on writers she has worked with over the years” but also open to submissions. Rosetta founder Arthur Klebanoff sees it as “example of how an original ebook line can be established in an area of traditional […]
Archives for July 2011
Mondadori to Put Thousands of eBooks on Kindle
Italy’s Mondadori will make “more than 2,000 ebooks” available via Kindle stores in the UK, Germany and the US. They expect to add another 1,000 titles before the end of the year, and hope to have 80 percent of their 10,000-title list as ebooks “by 2012.” Remarks from deputy chairman and chief executive Maurizio Costa at least imply that an Italian Kindle store might not be far off, following Amazon’s recent launch of an Italian web site. Italy is on Kobo’s list of local ebookstores planned for the coming months as well, though today’s release only mentions Amazon. Barnes & […]
BAMM Picks Up Two More Waldenbooks Outlets
Books-a-Million has agreements with The Cafaro Company–whom we mentioned yesterday–to take over at least two more Waldenbooks locations that are being liquidated. One is in Monroe, MI and one is in St. Clairsville, OH. Both were on that “option” list of additional stores Books-a-Million was looking at when they initially bid for 30 Borders Group locations. So BAMM is now filling all five of the “option” stores, along with two other superstores, all managed by Cafaro. Cafaro spokesperson Joe Bell said the company has eight locations currently occupied by Borders Group and “of these, he said, most will become Books-A-Million […]
Hastings’ Book On Offer After Little, Brown Cancels
Michael Hastings’ book The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan, planned for publication in December from Little, Brown, is now in turnaround. Little, Brown spokesperson Nicole Dewey says that their “publication plans have been cancelled due to editorial differences.” Agent Andrew Wylie is said to be offering the book to others now. The NY Post writes that “an investigation by the Department of Defense [following Hastings’ Rolling Stone article on General Stanley McChrystal, “The Runaway General”] said it could not find people to corroborate some of Hastings’ details and cast some doubt on the […]
People, Etc.
OverDrive has hired Brian Gurewitz as director of content sales. He was formerly president of library sales for Random House’s Books on Tape. Katie O’Callaghan is joining the Harper as associate director, marketing, working across all of the Harper imprints including Harper, Harper Business, and Broadside Books. She was most recently senior marketing manager at Ballantine Bantam Dell. The Los Angeles Times book review will no longer employ freelance book reviewers or non-staff columnists. LAT spokesperson Nancy Sullivan tells PW, “This was a cost-saving move, strictly related to our budget.” She said “staff writers from outside the book department will take […]
Amazon’s Meager Profit Is Still Better than Expected
Amazon’s profits are still declining even as the company post big gains in sales–but the second-quarter drop in profits was not as bad as Wall Street was expecting, so that counts as bullish news for investors (who now value the company at a more than 90 times its earnings). Sales increased 51% to $9.91 billion, about $500 million of that gain attributed to favorable foreign exchange; net income was $191 million or 41 cents a share, down from $207 million a year ago (on much smaller sales). But analysts were expecting only 34 cents a share on sales of under […]