Pottermore ceo Charlie Redmayne closed out the Publishers Launch Conference with a bang, indicating that “Pottermore is a digital publishing business” and part his roadmap for the next 12 months is to “work with other brands” from publishing and elsewhere. “We’ve started working brands, and indeed with publishers, trying to identify digital strategies that fulfill the sort of things” they have done for JK Rowling’s work. They are “already working with one other brand” in particular in a serious way (though Redmayne later told the Bookseller this first brand partner is a “non-book” property). “You can do a lot of […]
Archives for October 2012
At Publishers Launch, Making a Customer Focus Work
We’ve had a rich and interesting day in Frankfurt so far at the Publishers Launch conference, which kicks off the pre-fair forums. A bookseller-focused post is listed separately, and we’ll have more reporting tomorrow, with additional reports coming in from paidContent and The Bookseller. The event starting with a look at the larger competitive landscape of Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook to set context from UK analyst Benedict Evans of Enders Analysis. He reminded the audience that “Amazon is a mechanism for capturing the conversion of commerce to ecommerce. As each sector becomes susceptible to ecommerce it captures” that sector […]
Trends Continue In Busy Pre-Frankfurt Week
As promised last week, we have looked again at deal reports from October 1 through October 7 (so it does not include the new wave of Monday announcements), to see if last-minute activity would change the analysis of this season’s deal patterns leading up to the Frankfurt Book Fair. The big trend observed in September–significantly higher fiction sales, driven by higher than ever sales of romance and women’s fiction–continued apace. (Fiction sales were once again significantly higher in this period than ever observed before.) Children’s sales finally rose, after registering unusually low in September, and the total number of US […]
BN Eyes “Digital Moms” and Content Channels for International Rollout; More Kobo Partnerships Imminent
At the Publishers Launch Frankfurt conference on Monday, new Barnes & Noble international executive Patrick Rouvillois emphasized that in their imminent UK launch that they will be focusing on “digital moms” and families, as they have in the US. He was joined by BN executives Theresa Horner and Jim Hilt, who emphasized that the new Microsoft strategic partnership will allow Nook to sell content to customers in many territories and languages around the world through the Windows 8 platform well before they formally launch local stores in other territories. “It removes hurdles to us setting up storefronts,” Horner said. “The Windows […]
People, Etc.
Farrin Jacobs will join Little, Brown Young Reader’s Poppy imprint as editorial director on October 15, reporting to Megan Tingley. Jacobs spent the past six years at HarperTeen, most recently as editorial director. Tom Miller has joined the Business Group at McGraw-Hill Professional as executive editor. He was formerly executive editor at Wiley. At Perseus Distribution, Judy Courtade has been promoted to the newly created role of associate director, backlist sales, effective October 15. Jessica Schmidt has been named associate director, client services. She was most recently manager of publisher relations at Audible. Additionally, Ari Brenman joins as manager, client […]
Financier Leon Black’s Family Buys Phaidon
Founder of private equity firm Apollo Leon D. Black has acquired Phaidon Press from Richard Schlagman. Black explains in the announcement, “We have greatly admired Phaidon and the important contribution the company has made to art and culture. My family and I look forward to supporting the future growth of the company, including through the ongoing development of its publishing program, further geographic expansion, and the launch of digital products.” Schlagman says in the announcement, “The profile of the ideal buyer in my mind was exceeded in reality by Leon Black and his family. Self-evidently possessed of immense business acumen, […]