A number of agents and authors have been posting more details about–and further dissatisfaction with–the offer to Night Shade authors to modify their contracts and allow them to be transferred to Skyhorse and Start Publishing. As is clear now, Skyhorse seeks to acquire print rights only, and Start Publishing is looking to take over ebook rights. The latter is run by Jarred Weisfeld as a subsidiary of Start Media, “a well-capitalized privately held media company” that he says “is looking to acquire six publishing companies this year.” Weisfeld, who also is an agent at Objective Entertainment, says Start Publishing is “completely separate from […]
Archives for April 2013
Skyhorse to Move Distribution from Norton to Perseus
Skyhorse Publishing is moving domestic sales and distribution to Perseus Distribution. Perseus will take over distributing their ebooks on August 1, and will work on the print books as of January 1, 2014. Skyhorse has been distributed by Norton since the beginning of 2008, after first using Sterling when they started publishing in 2007. Publisher Tony Lyons says: “We are extraordinarily grateful to the team at W.W. Norton. Their work allowed us to grow from $2.7 million in sales in 2007 to nearly $23 million in 2012. We are excited about our move to Perseus. We are impressed with their obvious […]
Agency Lite Comes to Macmillan, and Begins in the UK As Well
Agency Lite has formally come to Macmillan titles now, after a longer-than-expected delay. Discounts on ebooks beyond what was previously allowed by the publisher can be seen on some of the company’s bestselling titles, such as Silver Linings Playbook (agency price, $9.99; discounted price $7.99); the Shred diet (agency price, $11.99; discounted price $9.99); and Killing Kennedy (agency price, $12.99; selling price $9.99). Price matching on discounts was observed across the three top ebookstores, Amazon, Nook and the iBookstore, though Google Play–often an early and aggressive discounter–seems to still be selling Macmillan ebooks at full agency prices for now. As […]
Night Shade Books Finds Buyer in Skyhorse–But Only If Authors Renegotiate
San Francisco-based publisher of science fiction & fantasy Night Shade Books, which has been struggling financially for several years, indicated in a letter to authors and agents earlier this week that the company plans to sell its assets to Skyhorse (as well as another entity, Start Publishing LLC.) The catch is that the sale cannot happen unless “a sufficient number of Night Shade authors agree to certain changes to their contracts.” Alternately, Night Shade will file for bankruptcy or liquidation proceedings. In the letter, Night Shade explains their financial difficulties were exacerbated by Borders’ liquidation, so much so that they […]
More Wiley Fallout: HMH’s “Bargain”; Harper Canada’s Buy; and Frommer Gets Back Frommer’s
It’s another fascinating day of fallout from the sales of Wiley’s trade assets. In Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s recently issued 2012 annual report, the company characterizes their acquisition of Wiley’s culinary and reference books as a “bargain purchase.” It was such a good deal, in fact, that HMH booked a special $30.8 million gain on the acquisition. They paid $11 million, but determined that “the fair value assigned to the net assets exceeded the consideration paid,” valuing the whole package at $41.8 million. That tells you something about how lean the offers were for Wiley’s properties, regardless of their value, and […]
People, Etc.
Lisa Vanterpool has joined Inkwell Literary Management as public relations & social media strategist. Previously she was at Blake Friedmann, where she focused on strategic social media development and publicity. At the Simon & Schuster imprint, Emily Graff has been named associate editor. Ann Hulbert will join the Atlantic as books & culture editor in June, the Observer reports, as part of an attempt “to beef up their culture coverage and help expand and re-envision their online book coverage.” Hulbert was previously an editor at Slate and the New Republic and is currently a Spencer Fellow at Columbia Journalism School. George […]