HarperCollins has relaunched their CS Lewis and Narnia websites, adding for the first time a direct-sales ebookstore to both sites, selling Lewis’s work in English in ebook editions in major territories around the world. As part of that new ebook sales offer, they have launched a branded Harper Reader app on iOS and Android. A customized version of the Bluefire Reader, it displays the encrypted EPUB files that Harper is selling — along with digital “extras” that Harper is offering their direct customers. So when you download the app, it comes with an “exclusive” free copy of Beyond the Wardrobe: […]
Archives for October 2013
Amazon Launches New Weekly Digital Literary Journal “Day One”
Amazon enters the world of literary journals with Day One, a weekly magazine the company says is “dedicated to short fiction from debut writers, English translations of stories from around the world, and poetry.” The first issue is available for download now and includes the short story “Sheila” by Rebecca Adams Wright, the poem “Wrought” by Zack Strait, cover art by Forsyth Harmon, and a letter from the editor, Carmen Johnson. Day One is based out of Amazon’s New York office. A full-year subscription to Day One goes for $19.99 but Amazon is offering a limited-time price of $9.99 for […]
Danish Publisher First to Issue House of Cards Revision
Denmark’s Gyldendal announced that they will be the first publisher to issue a revised edition of British politician and author Michael Dobbs’ novel HOUSE OF CARDS. The house says it was their “encourage[ment]” that prompted Dobbs to create a new ending — and then a complete revision — following renewed interest prompted by the Netflix series. Dobbs says in their statement: “I hadn’t re-read it since I typed ‘The End’ twenty-five years ago. When I did read it once again, I thought it was still a great story but showed some signs of being a ‘first effort.’ I’ve learned a […]
Soft College Sales Hold Down Pearson Profits
Pearson issue a third-quarter overview, reiterating guidance for the full year that anticipates lower profits than in 2012. While sales are up compared to a year, the third quarter was soft (sales were up 7 percent at the end of June; now “continuing sales” are up 4 percent for the first nine months). North American education margins are lower due to “a weak trading environment for college textbook publishing,” as well as “start-up costs associated with new services contracts and by product investment ahead of the implementation of new Common Core standards.” The Penguin Random House merger also “reduces Pearson’s […]
New $119 Nook Glowlight Arrives A Day Early; Kobo Expands In Ireland
Rumor had it that Barnes & Noble would announce the latest incarnation of its Nook GlowLight on Halloween, but the company did so on Wednesday morning. The newest version of the frontlit e-reader, retailing at $119 and shipping immediately, weighs just 6.2 ounces — “the lightest ever, but [also] 15 percent lighter than the Kindle Paperwhite” according to the announcement — and has its “highest resolution E-Ink display” with 62 percent more pixels. Full-page flashing on page turns is said to have been eliminated from the new GlowLight, which features “next-generation lighting technology that is completely uniform across the display […]
New Ventures and Partners: Filmmakers Publish Mezrich, Random Buys Figment, Match Book Launches
RatPac Entertainment, run by media mogul/heir James Packer and film director/producer Brett Ratner, is creating a book imprint, RatPac Press, designed “to bring more Hollywood related projects to market in both non-fiction and fiction genres.” Their first announced project is author of Accidental Billionaires and Bringing Down the House Ben Mezrich‘s new novel SEVEN WONDERS. They will publish in a joint venture with Running Press in late spring 2014, the first title under their joint publishing agreement. Ratner says in the announcement, “We are very excited at RatPac Press to be in business with Running Press and Perseus. Their years […]