OverDrive continues to perfect the uninformative release in a brief bulletin noting they have “temporarily suspended pre-sales and display” of the forthcoming Harry Potter ebooks at library websites. “This is only a postponement, and libraries will soon be able to resume pre-ordering the titles in preparation for launch in April.” Needless to say, no cause is cited, and they add “we’ll keep you posted as the process unfolds,” but of course they won’t–they’ll just announce when it’s working again. There was a brief moment earlier in the month when PaidContent noticed the New York Public Library online catalog showed the Potter […]
Archives for March 2012
Announced: Cambridge Uses Ingram for Logistics, and More
Cambridge University Press has a long-term logistics management agreement with Ingram Publisher Services to manage all warehousing and physical fulfillment of their U.S. inventory, effective June 1. Cambridge will continue to handle order processing and customer service. They already use Lightning Source for POD manufacturing. Cambridge coo Peter Phillips calls it “a key step in our own evolution as more and more of the content we provide moves from a physical to a digital format.” Pegasus Books will expand its publishing program to the UK, Australia, and New Zealand with the launch of their spring/summer 2012 list. Titles will be available […]
Losses Mount For Hastings, Tablet Sales Boost Book Comps
Hastings Entertainment reported fourth quarter and full year results Monday morning and the losses continue to mount. For the quarter, the company reported a net loss of $8.4 million (or 1 dollar a share), considerably worse than the $3.8 million in profit reported a year ago, with an overall loss of $17.6 million for the year. Overall book comps actually increased 2.4 percent for the quarter, “primarily due to sales of the Nextbook Premium 7 e-reader tablet and related accessories” and an uptick in trade paperback sales that offset continuing sales declines in new mass market books and used hardbacks. […]
People: Schoenfelder Exits Mulholland to Oversee Development for Scott Rudin
Mulholland Books editor John Schoenfelder will be leaving Little, Brown to work for film producer Scott Rudin, where he will oversee the development department. His start date is May 1. In a brief telephone interview Schoenfelder told us he will continue to work with many of his authors on a freelance basis, though Mulholland is searching for a replacement. “It’s an exciting opportunity,” Schoenfelder said, “to work with one of the most tremendous shepherds of storytelling in our era.” Schoenfelder joined the crime & suspense imprint in December 2009 from Thomas Dunne/St. Martin’s Press, where he was an assistant editor. […]
Investor Tries New Path For Barnes & Noble Break-Up; Flammarion Bidding Moves Forward
Investor Michael Glickstein of G Asset Management, 30, who has been writing letters to the Barnes & Noble board for almost a year asking for a break-up of the company, is trying a new approach. In his newest letter, Bloomberg reported Friday, Glickstein at least theoretically offered to “buy” half of Barnes & Noble College in a spinoff of that division. It’s not clear that G Asset, which appears to be a one-man shop, has available the assets or borrowing power to make such an offer. (G Asset has declared ownership of a modest number of shares of BN stock, […]
Amazon Publishing’s Deals Make It the Peer of Two Big Six Adult Groups for Now
We’re wary of overcovering Amazon, but the etailer’s rapid publishing ramp-up is clearly of widespread community interest, and it feels as if we’ve been seen a large volume of deal reports for their various imprints lately. As always, we like to measure impressions against data. To that end, here is the breakdown of Publishers Marketplace deal reports for all Amazon publishing imprints over the last quarter: Amazon NY 18 Thomas & Mercer 14 Montlake Romance 12 Amazon Crossing 5 47North 3 Amazon Encore 2 Total: 54 deals But where does that deal volume put them? Compared to the […]