Here are the ABA’s latest monthly picks: 1. The Sisters: A Novel, by Nancy Jensen The Angel Makers, by Jessica Gregson Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman, by Robert K. Massie Mourad: New Moroccan, by Mourad Lahlou Harbor, by John Ajvide Lindqvist The Drop, by Michael Connelly Family Legacy, by Jack O’Halloran Second Read: Writers Look Back at Classic Works of Reportage, by James Marcus (Ed.) Blue Nights, by Joan Didion BarnHeart: The Incurable Longing for a Farm of One’I Am Half-Sick of Shadows: A Flavia de Luce Novel, by Alan Bradleys Own, by Jenna Woginrich 420 Characters, by […]
Archives for November 2011
Barnes & Noble Set to Launch Nook Tablet; $99 eReader with “No Annoying Ads”
Engadget has obtained a number of internal Barnes & Noble documents in advance of Monday’s Nook press conference. The materials indicate the company will launch a $249 fully-featured media tablet with specs that meet or exceed the Kindle Fire. With Amazon’s tablet releasing November 15 and Kobo’s new Vox already out, the Nook tablet it set to arrive in stores for demonstration on November 15 and be available to customers on November 16. The internal spec documents indicate it will have double the ram of Fire, a faster processor, and twice as much internal storage, at 16 GB. They are […]
People, Etc.
At Harvard Business Review Press, Sarah McConville has been promoted to publisher, responsible for leading all commercial aspects of the press including strategic partnerships, marketing and publicity, foreign rights, and global and domestic sales. She will also spearhead product development efforts. In addition, Tim Sullivan moves up to editorial director. At Random House, Frank Steinert has been promoted to evp, chief human resources officer. He is head of HR for the US division and for the company worldwide. Alyson Sinclair has been named publicity director at McSweeney’s, effective November 21st. She was most recently marketing and publicity manager at City […]
Kindle-Lent, Without Consent
As publishers and agents have started to realize with exasperation today, a number of titles in the Kindle Lending Library program–including some of the bestselling, prominently-promoted titles on the program’s home page–are part of this new initiative without the consent or affirmative participation of the publishers and rightsholders. Not only that, but at least some come from companies that directly turned down Amazon’s initial offer over the past few months to license a broad selection of backlist for a flat fee. Multiple participants were only told by Amazon yesterday (or found out themselves this morning) that this was happening. How […]
Sales and Profits Up For Simon & Schuster in Third Quarter
CBS reported second quarter earnings after the close of the market on Tuesday, with Simon & Schuster recording a 1 percent increase in sales, up $2 million to $220 million, and a sharper increase in profits. Adjusted OIBDA rose $6 million (or 19 percent) to $38 million, and adjusted operating income also rose $6 million, at $30 million. The company said that “strong growth in the sale of more profitable digital content was offset by lower print book sales,” indicating that improved profits were “driven by lower direct operating costs, including expense decreases resulting from the significant increase in more […]
eNews: Amazon Augmented Reality App; La Vanguardia’s New eBookstore; and More
Though Amazon’s ebook lending service for Prime members is the big story for the day, they also launched another service (through subsidiary A9.com) worth remarking upon. Flow Powered by Amazon is a free augmented reality iPhone app that, when pointed in the direction of any good with a UPC barcode (like video games, DVDs and books) will display Amazon product information, including the option to play multimedia content and read customer reviews. Release La Vanguardia, Spain’s 4th largest newspaper (and the top newspaper in Barcelona, where most of Spanish book publishing is located) announced on Wednesday that it is launching […]