The ABA and Barnes & Noble have gotten together on something: they requested permission from Judge Denise Cote to file an amici curiae brief on the pending ebook pricing settlement. In a proposed order for the judge, they ask to submit a brief of up to 10 pages on the Department of Justice’s filed response to the public’s comments submitted under the Tunney Act, along with a response of up to 5 pages on Justice’s motion for entry of proposed final judgment in the case. Justice now has the option of opposing their request before Judge Cote rules on it. […]
Archives for July 2012
Corporate: F+W Acquires Interweave; HarperCollins Creates Christian Publishing Division
F+W Media continues its expansion by acquiring Aspire Media, parent company of digital art and craft enthusiast media company Interweave, from private equity firms Frontenac Company, Catalyst Investors, Clay Hall, and several members of the Interweave management team. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but F+W ceo David Nussbaum calls it “a transformative acquisition” that “makes us a dominant player in craft and art in books, magazines, ecommerce, and ultimately online TV and other initiatives.” The new units will make F+W 30 percent larger in revenues. Frontenac managing director Walter Florence has joined the F+W Media board of directors, while Interweave ceo […]
eNews: Inkling Expands to iPhones, and More
Inkling is releasing an update of their reader apps that expands the interactive textbook and multimedia book platform to support iPhones and iPod touches. (Up until now, Inkling has worked on the iPad only.) Among the phone-optimized features, users can choose to download just a chapter at a time to their smaller screens. With their Inkling Habitat service for publishing by third parties, ceo Matt MacInnis claims in the release, “We’re now the world’s only publishing platform for interactive content on phones, tablets and the web.” He adds, “This is the first time anyone has shrunk complex content like textbooks […]
People, Etc.
At S&S Children’s, Hannah Buchsbaum has joined Little Simon as associate editor. Previously she was at Disney Press. Michael Rediker is joining Books-a-Million as corporate development analyst, responsible for identifying, analyzing and implementing strategic corporate initiatives within the organization, including new business growth opportunities. He will report to evp James Turner. He was most recently with the investment banking firm Paces Battle Group. Author Maeve Binchy, 72, died after what was reported as a short illness. Ireland’s RTE says she sold over 40 million books in 42 languages. Ireland’s president Michael Higgins called her “an outstanding novelist, short story writer and columnist” and […]
Bookselling: Chester County Books & Music May Close; Borders Australia Rebrands as BookWorld; and More
Chester County Books & Music in West Chester, PA may close now that landlords for the store’s 28,000-square foot space found new tenants. Owner Kathy Simoneaux told the Pottstown Mercury that the lease for the space they have occupied since 1987 expired in January and the store has been renting on a month-to-month basis ever since. The decision to leave was “mutual” as the rent increased too much for Simoneaux to keep paying. While closure seemed likely, Simoneaux says she has been “approached by different parties about continuing to run an independent operation elsewhere” and thus she “started to reconsider” getting […]
HMH Halts Publication of IMAGINE After Jonah Lehrer Acknowledges Fabricating Bob Dylan Quotes
More than a month after admitting to recycling material from previous articles into his New Yorker blog posts, Jonah Lehrer has resigned from the magazine, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has taken ebook editions of Lehrer’s newest book IMAGINE, published last April, off the market, halted shipment of physical copies, and is “exploring further options” with respect to IMAGINE’s continuing publication. The latest developments emerged after a report in Tablet demonstrated Lehrer fabricated a number of quotes attributed to Bob Dylan in IMAGINE, and that he obfuscated the truth to journalist Michael Moynihan for several weeks before finally admitting to the […]