Studio DreamWorks Animation is starting their own DreamWorks Press line of print and ebooks later this year, “likely to launch in time for the 2014 holiday season.” They will be issuing titles based on their forthcoming movies as well as their existing stable of characters where they have reclaimed those rights — from Shrek to properties acquired as part of Classic Media in 2012 including Rocky & Bullwinkle and Lassie. The imprint will be run by head of global publishing Emma Whittard, onetime director of global licensed books for Disney Publishing), and Perseus’s PGW will distribute the new company. Whittard is “supported by Dreamworks […]
Archives for February 2014
Publishers Warn Trade Representative On Canada and Fair Use
We are accustomed to America’s intellectual property creators warning about inadequate protection for their work in countries such as China, Ukraine and Russia. But on Friday, organizations representing industries that rely on copyright (including the AAP) called out Canada for special attention and a place on the US Trade Representative’s “watch list” among others. The AAP explained in a release that Canada’s Copyright Modernization Act 2012 “expanded its fair dealing exceptions to include an undefined ‘education’ purpose. The education exception lacks any specific parameters, thus conflicting with established international norms regarding exceptions, and has also been subject to excessively broad interpretation, […]
Canada Settles eBook Pricing Investigation with Four Publishers
The one holdout in resolving governmental concerns over the establishment of agency pricing for ebooks, Canada announced that their Competition Bureau has signed consent agreements with Harper, Hachette, Macmillan and Simon & Schuster. The Bureau said, “This agreement should benefit Canadian consumers by lowering the price of ebooks in Canada. Businesses operating in the digital economy must realize that anti-competitive activity will not be tolerated, whether it occurs in the physical world or the digital one.” The settlement resolves allegations of violation of Canada’s Competition Act. The four publishers have “agreed to remove or amend clauses in their distribution agreements […]
Further Trimming At Nook
More departures were announced internally at Barnes & Noble this week, including general manager for the Nook accessories group Jackie Corso, as well as other members of that group, according to employees. Spokesperson Mary Ellen Keating told us: “We’ve been very clear about our focus on rationalizing the Nook business and positioning it for future success and value creation. As we’ve aligned Nook’s cost structure with business realities, staffing levels in certain areas of our organization have changed, leading to some job eliminations. We’re not going to comment specifically on those eliminations. “We believe we have a strong management team […]
Sharp’s New Film Company Bringing Gabaldon and Others to Screens
File this one under “interesting development we haven’t seen covered for publishing yet” rather than “news”: Open Road co-founder Jeff Sharp is now also ceo and president of film/TV production company Story Mining & Supply Co. It’s backed by chairman and executive producer Jim Kohlberg — the private equity master who is Open Road’s lead financier through Kohlberg Ventures and a board member of the ebook publisher. (Kohlberg has also been a film producer, writer and director for some time.) You’ll be hearing more about the company this summer when Starz is set to air their 16-episode series based on […]
People, Etc.
At Gotham/Avery, Lindsay Gordon has been promoted to associate director of publicity. Beth Ineson has been appointed to the new role of executive director, book marketing, sales, and operations at Boston Common Press, starting March 3. Most recently she was head of field sales at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Ineson will oversee expansion of the marketing and distribution of efforts of the Cook’s Illustrated, America’s Test Kitchen, and Cook’s Country lines of cookbooks. Annie Kelley has returned to Schwartz & Wade Books as senior editor. Previously she was youth editor at Booklist. Simon & Schuster UK will combine its adult and […]