As has been rumored for some time, Blurb.com is acquiring Graphicly.com, which has focused on helping creators produce image-rich ebooks such as comics and other illustrated works, including photo books. It’s considered an “acquihire,” with the press release phrasing it as “Blurb acquires key talent from Graphicly.” Six employees from Graphicly will join Blurb, including founder Micah Baldwin, while Graphicly will shut down as an independent service. Founder Micah Baldwin tells TechCrunch that Graphicly has 10,000 publishers on its platform, issuing about 20,000 titles, with approximately $2 million in revenues. In the release, Baldwin says, “After spending four years working […]
Archives for May 2014
BEA Launches and Relaunches: Next Big Book (Data); Bookperk Redux; Mediander; New Strategies from Electric Lit and Coffee House Press
Music data start-up Next Big Sound has launched their second product, Next Big Book — promising to “analyze social, sales, and marketing signals to help you make smarter, braver decisions.” The “big data” service puts information from social networks as well as publicity triggers and author events together with public and private sales data into a single dashboard. The company has been working with Macmillan for the past eight months, and the NYT says the publisher will be giving both employees and authors access to the data dashboard “over the next few months.” Macmillan evp for digital publishing and strategic […]
People, Etc.
In agency news, Stephanie Kip Rostan has been made at partner at Levine Greenberg, and the agency has officially changed its name to the Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency. She has been with the agency for 13 years. Jim Levine says in the announcement, “We know why Stephanie’s clients love her. She’s smart as can be, with a sense of strategy that is only equaled by her sense of humor.” Daniel Greenberg adds, “She’s both a leader and a team player, and we’re delighted to have her as our partner.” Their web domain is also changing, to lgrliterary.com, but emails to the previous […]
Harper Requests Over $1.1 Million in Damages From Open Road and Permanent Injunction In JULIE OF THE WOLVES Case
Late Friday, as scheduled, HarperCollins filed its first brief outlining the relief and damages it wants from Open Road Integrated Media for publishing the digital edition of Jean Craighead George’s JULIE OF THE WOLVES, following Judge Naomi Reece Buchwald’s grant of summary judgment in Harper’s favor in March. Harper seeks the maximum statutory damages “of no less than $30,000 for Open Road’s blatant infringement,” attorneys’ fees and costs totaling almost $1.1 million, a permanent injunction barring Open Road’s publication, and “such other and further relief as this Court may deem just and proper.” Harper says in its filing that Open Road’s infringement has continued following Judge Buchwald’s […]
Hachette Promises to “Spare No Effort” In “Exploring All Options” in Dispute with Amazon
Hachette Book Group issued a new statement Friday evening in the wake of Amazon’s removal of pre-order capabilities on forthcoming Hachette titles, which itself stemmed from an ongoing dispute over terms. “We are determined to protect the value of our authors’ books and our own work in editing, distributing, and marketing them,” the publisher said. They add, “We hope this difficult situation will not last a long time, but we are sparing no effort and exploring all options.” But the company is not prepared to say what those options might include yet. Separately, the NYT is last on the beat in […]
HBG CEO Pietsch Writes to Authors
Following Thursday night’s removal of pre-order options for many Hachette Book Group titles on Amazon, as first reported by us, on Friday morning Hachette ceo Michael Pietsch dispatched a confirming email to authors, obtained by PL: “I am sorry to tell you that Amazon has now taken preorder capabilities away from Hachette Book Group publications…. There is no preorder button, and some not-yet-published books lack a Kindle page entirely.” Pietsch tells authors: “Please know that we are doing everything in our power to find a solution to this difficult situation, one that best serves our authors and their work, and […]