As part of their expanding BookStats project, the AAP is now breaking out some meaningful export sales data for the first time. Many US publishers have known that export is the prime growth areas and have been devoting resources towards maximizing the opportunity. The interesting insight is that, while digital clearly cannibalizes print sales in the US, it’s fueling both print and ebook sales in export markets. From 161 reporting publishers, print export sales in 2011 were $335.9 million, and ebook sales into the same territories were $21.5 million (or 6 percent of all export sales). Significantly the biggest “export” […]
Archives for May 2012
Initiatives: Faber In Audio Co-Venture with Canongate; Hay House Enrolls Bloggers
In the UK, Faber has entered in an audio co-publishing venture with Canongate (which acquired audio publisher CSA in 2010). Canongate will produce and sell audio editions of up to about a dozen Faber titles annually, the Bookseller reports. (Faber will continue to publish audio versions of their poetry books independently.) In the US, Hay House has started a blogger review program, BookNook, that is similar to Thomas Nelson’s Book Sneeze initiative. They aim to create “one central place for bloggers to share their thoughts and experiences about Hay House products,” providing free review copies in exchange for “an honest […]
Simon & Schuster Agrees to Settle with States
As expected would happen, Simon & Schuster has signed a memorandum of understanding with the original group of state attorneys general who filed suit against the company as part of the action over ebook pricing. That memo was executed May 10, the parties told Federal Judge Denise Cote, in a motion for dismissal without prejudice of the original complaint. They wrote in the filing that “plaintiff States and Simon and Schuster intend to enter into a settlement agreement, and plaintiff States will subsequently file with the Court a proposed notice and distribution plan.” The court docket confirms the federal case was “terminated” […]
Awards: Rea Award to Baxter; Carnegie Nominates Lauded Authors
The twenty-fifth Rea Award for the Short Story has gone to Charles Baxter. The prize recognizes a US or Canadian writer who has “made a significant contribution to the discipline of the short story as an art form.” Baxter’s works include six published collections of stories. The jurors wrote (in part), “Baxter’s stories have especially shown an acute feeling for the landscape of marriage, childhood, and art.” Announcement The new Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction announced the finalists for the two awards: Nonfiction Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman, by Robert K. Massie The Information: […]
Burkle to Reallocate His Barnes & Noble Stock
Barnes & Noble’s stock was having a rough day in Thursday morning trading and then briefly plunged in the afternoon following an SEC filing by large shareholder Ron Burkle. What he reported to the SEC is that two of the entities he controls–Yucaipa American Alliance Fund II and Yucaipa American Alliance (Parallel) Fund II–are going to “distribute in-kind” their shares to the funds’ owners. (It’s difficult to tell from Burkle’s filing how his 19.74 percent block of Barnes & Noble stock is spread among multiple entities, each of which is credited with substantial interest in same pool of shares.) The market’s […]
eNews: CreateSpace Allows Authors To Distribute Into Amazon Europe Sites For Free; Kobo Will Sell Harry Potter eBooks; and More
Amazon’s print-on-demand service CreateSpace will now allow self-published authors to distribute their books into Germany, Italy, France, Spain, and the UK for free through the company’s websites in those countries. “We are very excited to offer our members the option to distribute their books on Amazon sites in Europe. By doing so, they will make their books available and in stock to millions of European readers,” said CreateSpace managing director Libby Johnson McKee in a statement. “We are continually working to deliver exceptional value and world-class customer service to our CreateSpace members worldwide, and European distribution is yet another great […]