Their methodology may not track with actual earnings figures (though we understand there have been some changes to make the tally more accurate as compared to previous years) Forbes has released their new list of guesses at how much the most successful authors made over the 12 months ending June 1: James Patterson ($84 million) Danielle Steel ($35 million) Stephen King ($28 million) Janet Evanovich ($22 million) Stephenie Meyer ($21 million) Rick Riordan ($21 million) Dean Koontz ($19 million) John Grisham ($18 million) Jeff Kinney ($17 million) Nicholas Sparks ($16 million) Forbes
Archives for August 2011
Class Action Lawsuits Against Apple and Agency Publishers Proliferate
When the Seattle law firm Hagens Berman filed suit against Apple and publishers Hachette, Macmillan, HarperCollins, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster last week, they specifically sought media coverage–and got it. Without press releases, what was missed was that four additional suits, all seeking to be part of a larger class action, were filed in federal courts in New York and California between August 10 and August 12. Across the various suits, Random House, Amazon and Barnes & Noble all get added to the legal feasting as well. As you may surmise, each of these suits works off the same logic […]
Bookselling: Sales Rise for Elliot Bay; Another Books-A-Million Store Replaces Borders; And More
Success Magazine profiled Elliott Bay Book Company as part of its “American Comebacks” series, looking at how the store has functioned since it moved from Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood after 36 years there to a smaller venue in Capitol Hill. Owner Peter Aaron said he “figured he needed a 10 percent rise in sales to keep the business viable. Sales have held at a better level, up 15 to 20 percent compared to the previous year.” The store is also stocking books in categories that never sold well before, such as cozy mysteries, LGBT titles, and remainder books. Success Magazine […]
eNews: FTC Settles Privacy Concerns With Children’s App Developer; Claim That Next Sony Reader Will Be Bundled With Potter eBooks; And More
The Federal Trade Commission has settled with W3 Innovations, which owns children’s app developer Broken Thumbs, for $50,000, after the developer was charged with violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act by collecting information from children under the age of 13 without their parents’ permission. (Several apps produced by Broken Thumbs were downloaded more than 50,000 times.) FTC chairman Jon Liebovitz said in a statement: “The F.T.C.’s COPPA Rule requires parental notice and consent before collecting children’s personal information online, whether through a Web site or a mobile app. Companies must give parents the opportunity to make smart choices when […]
Quarto Buys Frances Lincoln For £4.5m, Reports Sales and Profit Increase So Far This Year
Quarto announced Tuesday that it had acquired Frances Lincoln Ltd for £4.5m. Quarto chairman Laurence Orbach said in a statement that Frances Lincoln’s non-fiction and illustrated children’s book list “complements Quarto’s existing UK publishing business, several imprints trading under the Aurum name, and more than doubles the scale of our presence in the UK. The acquisition is in keeping with our strategy to further expand our already broad offering of niche content.” For the fiscal year ending March 31, Frances Lincoln reported an audited profit before tax of £619,000, net assets of £3.8 million and gross assets of £5.9 million. […]
People
At Bloomsbury UK, Charlotte Atyeo has been named publisher of sport and Wisden, while Charlotte Croft moves up to publisher of the sports and fitness department at A&C Black. Paula Schlosser has joined Martingale & Company as design director. Previously she was an art director at Oxford University Press.