Bloomberg BusinessWeek reporter and author of The Everything Store Brad Stone opened Wednesday morning’s Digital Book World sessions focused on Amazon. “In a way, this is a room full of Bezosologists; we all have to be.” Stone spoke in particular to the company’s vast ambition and persistence: “The one constant is Amazon’s 20-year history is that it does not give up…and can be fairly ruthless and self-absorbed in how it constantly tries to disrupt the existing order.” He referred to “the notorious one-star review of my book that was heard round the world,” in which “MacKenzie Bezos took issue with […]
Archives for January 2014
People: Shinker to Depart Gotham/Avery, Tart To Oversee Imprints; Penguin and Random Children’s Merge In UK
President and publisher of Gotham/Avery Books Bill Shinker will step down on January 31 “to do consulting,” after what Penguin president Susan Petersen Kennedy calls a “storied four-decade publishing career [that] uniquely includes the founding of two lasting Penguin and Random House imprints: Gotham Books and Broadway Books.” Succeeding Shinker on February 3 is Brian Tart, who will also remain president and publisher of Dutton. Newly reporting to Tart are Gotham/Avery associate publisher Lisa Johnson; Gotham editorial director Lauren Marino; and Avery editorial director Megan Newman. Gotham/Avery intends to continue publishing approximately 25 hardcover and 30 paperback titles annually. Kennedy […]
How Startups and Publishers Can Work With Each Other
One prominent topic at Digital Book World Tuesday was the relationship between startups and publishers, and how both sides can best work together. (As a case in point, Ingram Ventures announced an investment in social ebook retail startup Librify — after first meeting them at DBW a year ago.) In the morning, Mike Shatzkin presented the results of the DBW Startup Survey, with respondents from 43 startups and 25 book publishers from 8 companies. 74 percent of startups “considered themselves disruptive” to publishers — which is an inherent conflict — and said that the toughest challenges they face with our industry […]
S&S Adds New Sci-Fi/Fantasy Adult Trade Imprint, Simon451
Having recently launched a science fiction & fantasy imprint out of its children’s division, Simon & Schuster will now do the same through their adult trade imprint, starting in October 2014. The new imprint, Simon451 (a reference to Ray Bradbury’s iconic novel, published by S&S) is devoted to “publishing literary and commercial speculative fiction across categories such as science fiction, fantasy, dystopian, apocalyptic and the supernatural.” Simon451 will focus primarily on digital-first editions and ebook originals but also experiment with publishing serialized novels and original short stories, while reissuing classic backlist titles in digital format. Titles on the Simon451 launch list […]
DBW Opens: Shatzkin, CEOs, O’Reilly, Data and More
The fifth annual Digital Book World Conference officially opened on Tuesday morning in New York to record-setting attendance and exhibits. Morning highlights included a ceo panel with S&S’s Carolyn Reidy, David Nussbaum of F+W Media, Sourcebooks’ Dominique Raccah, and O’Reilly Media founder Tim O’Reilly and a separate presentation from O’Reilly on how “the real ebook revolution is just beginning.” (Later in the show his company will presenting their Atlas digital publishing platform.) Program chair Mike Shatzkin (and partner in our Publishers Launch Conferences, the co-presenter of DBW) laid out some of the broad themes in his opening remarks. As Shatzkin […]
People
Hachette svp publishing operations and strategic planning Craig Bauer is leaving, to join Macmillan Science and Education as svp of global publishing operations. Macmillan Publisher Services has appointed Guy Browning as vp, fulfillment, reporting to global trade coo Andrew Weber. Browning, who starts his new position on January 27, moves over from Macmillan UK, where he was most recently distribution director for their center in Swansea, Wales. Richard Nash has joined Byliner as vp, partnerships. Previously he was vp, community and content at Small Demons. At Henry Holt, Allison Adler and Caroline Zancan are both being promoted to associate editor. […]