Former Macmillan president Brian Napack will join media private equity firm Providence Equity Partners as a senior advisor. He will also join the board of educational software company Blackboard, Inc. Napack “will work with Providence to identify and manage new investment opportunities in education and media and to support the firm’s existing portfolio companies.” He left Macmillan at the end of 2011. Managing Director and head of Providence’s education practice Peter Wilde says, “Brian has an exceptional track record of launching and leading businesses operating at the intersection of technology and media, education and entertainment, an area where we are […]
Archives for March 2012
Beyond the Biggest Authors, Amazon Admits “Singles” Sales Are Quite Low
Laura Owen at PaidContent obtains some general statistics on Amazon Kindle sales over the past 14 months, which ratify our argument that–while interesting–both the form and this proprietary store are vastly overcovered. In 14 months, Amazon says sales are “over two million” units. With prices ranging from one to three dollars, that comprises gross sales of roughly $4 million, across 165 titles. The six bestselling Kindle Singles titles are in fact all non-exclusive works from established authors: Lee Child, Stephen King, David Baldacci, Dean Koontz. (Together they are likely to comprise over a quarter of those two million units by […]
Apple, Harper and Penguin Reply to Agency-Pricing Class Action Lawsuit
As negotiations reportedly continue between multiple publishers and the Department of Justice over possible modifications to the agency model for ebook sales, the lawsuit seeking class-action status in New York’s Southern District Court continues, with three of the plaintiffs filing responses to the allegations earlier this month. Apple, filing on March 2, took issue with the idea of any conspiracy between it and publishers, saying the original complaint “implausibly suggests Apple conspired with the publishers to address economic issues it was not facing, and coordinated actions it did not participate in.” That’s because, when the agency model was implemented in […]
How Vintage Landed Erotic Romance Trilogy ’50 Shades of Grey’
As the NYT reported over the weekend Vintage bought world English print, digital, and audio rights to republish EL James’ erotic romance trilogy 50 SHADES OF GREY, which has sold more than 250,000 units (predominantly in ebook format) and has become an increasingly prominent topic of conversation over the past few weeks. The republished ebook edition is available now, priced at $9.99, with trade paperbacks to follow in early April, priced at $15.95. Foreign rights auctions have concluded or are underway in a number of territories as well. In a telephone interview, Vintage evp and publisher Anne Messitte told us […]
People, Etc.: A CFO for BN
Barnes & Noble has hired Michael P. Huseby as chief financial officer, and he will start work tomorrow. As for the ongoing realignment of the company’s businesses, they say Huseby will “lead the company’s finance organization, aligning the company’s finance and business strategies, optimizing the company’s capital structure and helping to scale the rapidly growing digital business.” From 2004 to 2011 was evp and cfo at Cablevision, and prior to that he was evp and cfo at another cable operator, Charter Communications. Alan Lindstrom has been acting cfo for the past five months. Paula Munier has joined Talcott Notch Literary […]
Pearlman, Jasanoff Among NBCC Award Winners
The National Book Critics Circle Awards went to: Binocular Vision, by Edith Pearlman (Fiction) Liberty’s Exiles, by Maya Jasanoff (General Nonfiction) George F. Kennan: An American Life by John Lewis Gaddis (Biography) The Memory Place, by Mira Bartok (Autobiography) Space, in Chains, by Laura Kasischke (Poetry) Otherwise Known As The Human Condition, by Geoff Dyer (Criticism) Release