Books-A-Million announced late Monday that their effort to acquire 30 Borders stores “has ended unsuccessfully because the parties could not agree on terms and the going out of business sales at these locations commenced.” CEO Clyde Anderson said in the announcement “we worked exhaustively in an effort to acquire these stores and reach agreements with all of the parties whose consent was necessary. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful.” BAMM will still take over at least a few vacating Borders locations, apparently through direct negotiations with the landlords. So far, the bookseller has had success with mall owners The Cafaro Company in […]
Archives for July 2011
Other Major eBook Apps Fall In Line with New Apple Rules
As expected, Apple’s new rule requiring content-based apps that sell outside of Apple’s own channels to remove any external purchasing links is being enforced broadly across all the major players. Yesterday the Apple Kindle app was updated, with the company saying in a forum posting “in order to comply with recent policy changes by Apple, we’ve removed the ‘Kindle Store’ link from within the app that opened Safari and took you to the Kindle Store.” Barnes & Noble announced that their Nook for iPad app will “soon be updated,” at which time you can expect their purchasing link to be […]
People
Author and former agent and editor Jason Pinter will be senior marketing manager for Grove/Atlantic and their publisher’s Mysterious Press imprint, which they are relaunching this fall. Publishing Technology has hired Jon White as business development director for their expansion in Australia and New Zealand. Before becoming a consultant White was digital publishing director at Macmillan Education and digital licensing manager at Penguin.
Kania to Leave Harper, and Paperback Units Are Reintegrated
Senior vice president and publisher of It Books, Harper Perennial, and Harper paperbacks Carrie Kania (who also oversees the Harper Design imprint) will leave HarperCollins at the end of August. She is moving to London, where she will join Conville & Walsh as an agent. Kania joined Harper in 1999. In the wake of her departure, the paperback lines Harper Perennial and Harper paperbacks will be “realigned” within the Harper and William Morrow divisions. Harper division svp/publisher Jonathan Burnham will take over responsibility for Perennial, with Cal Morgan reporting to Burnham, as will Amy Baker and Erica Barmash. Publicists Anne […]
Kobo and Other eReading Apps Comply with Apple’s New Rule On Purchasing
Apple is doing exactly what they said they would do–enforcing a new rule on the makers of content-driven apps that requires them to remove any links to purchasing content through the web that bypass Apple’s own purchasing systems (through which Apple gets a 30 percent commission). The move gained additional attention with respect to ebook apps over the weekend, as Kobo revised their iOS app to remove the purchasing link over the weekend: “Earlier today Apple instituted new rules which affect your experience on iPhone and iPad apps. The biggest change is the removal of the ability to shop within […]
People
Scholastic’s international division has hired Anne Boynton-Trigg as vp, export, and the former holder of that position Edie Perkins takes the new job of vp, international product development, working “across corporate divisions and international groups to strengthen and grow the Scholastic brand globally.” Boynton-Trigg was most recently svp, general manager, with Pearson Longman English Language Teaching. Both report to president of Scholastic International Growth Markets Shane Armstrong. The Guardian released their new Media Guardian 100 list, with only modest representation from book publishing. Penguin ceo John Makinson remains on the list, now at No. 88 (down from 76 last year), […]