Google Play has expanded into nine more European countries, including Denmark, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, and Sweden, bringing the total to 26. The NYT’s Bits Blog writes up its impressions of BookVibe, a book recommendation service created by fledgling startup Parakweet that “basically analyzes the tweets of accounts that you follow on Twitter and compiles a list of book recommendations based on which titles those people are talking about.” (BookVibe emerged out of BEA’s Publishing Hackathon earlier this summer.) Parakweet recently raised $2 million in seed funding for this and other services (including TrendFinder, for movie […]
Archives for July 2013
Gailbraithgate: Rowling’s Attorney’s Wife’s Best Friend Did It
It was a rare defeat for the cynics, as JK Rowling’s London law firm admitted that one of their partners was responsible for the unmasking of the famous author as the creator of Robert Galbraith’s THE CUCKOO’S CALLING. The firm said in statement: “We, Russells Solicitors, apologise unreservedly for the disclosure caused by one of our partners, Chris Gossage, in revealing to his wife’s best friend, Judith Callegari, during a private conversation that the true identity of Robert Galbraith was in fact JK Rowling.” But their apology isn’t really unreserved, since it goes on to pretend that there are reasonable circumstances […]
BEA to Highlight Translations In 2014
Instead of focusing on a single country, BEA’s “Global Market Forum” for 2014 will devote itself to Books In Translation. They will convene what they are calling a “world summit on translation” on May 28 (the conference day before the show floor opens), followed by programs at BEA and around New York. A variety of partners will join BEA in developing the related professional and cultural programs, including: The Literary Translation at Columbia Writing Program, PEN World Voices, Open Letter Press, the Association of Author Representatives, American Literary Translators Association, and Art of Translation in San Francisco.
Lonely Planet Plans Broad Layoffs In “Challenging” Market
Lonely Planet announced layoffs internally, called “a series of changes to its operations in response to a challenging external environment and to position the company for continued success.” They warned that “a number of positions at our offices around the world have the potential to be affected and we are in consultation with individuals whose roles may be impacted.” Australian media accounts estimated the layoffs at 80 to 100 jobs, mostly in Australia, but COO Daniel Houghton appears to have “confirmed around 70- 80 roles would be made redundant worldwide” to the Sydney Morning Herald. Houghton told Skift.com, which first […]
Scholastic Finishes Fiscal Year Dominated By Hunger Games Falloff
The storyline behind Scholastic’s fiscal 2013 reports has been the adjustment back to normal as the previous year’s extraordinary THE HUNGER GAMES trilogy sales — which sold upwards of 50 million copies in fiscal 2012 — leveled off. The results were in line with or ahead of their revised guidance, even though the numbers reflect a reset for the company. They took another charge of 21 cents per share in the quarter “related to cost reduction and restructuring programs” that included $6.6 million in pretax severance payments. For the year ahead, they forecast similar results, projecting sales of approximately $1.8 billion, […]
Chapman and Others Rise at S&S UK/International, As MacRae Resigns
Simon & Schuster UK ceo and managing director since 2000 Ian Chapman has been promoted to chief executive and publisher for both Simon & Schuster UK and International. (Chapman had already previously taken on oversight for S&S Australia and S&S India.) CEO Carolyn Reidy writes that “going forward, Ian will continue to apply his considerable publishing and leadership skills across all aspects of our UK and international companies as we seek an even greater level of coordination and growth across all our international publishing. He has assembled a terrific team to help him accomplish those and I know that wonderful […]