Camille McDuffie is leaving her position as president of Goldberg McDuffie Communications to join the newly-created Columbia Global Reports as publisher, under director Nicholas Lemann. It’s a Columbia University-based publishing project “dedicated to the production of sustained, original reporting and analysis on under-reported global issues for audiences that extend beyond the academy,” and they will produce four to six short books a year, for publication beginning in fall 2015. Also joining the unit as editor is Jimmy So, who was a culture and books editor at The Daily Beast. At William Morrow, Jessica Williams has been promoted to editor. Heather Alexander […]
Archives for June 2014
Apple Damages Trial Delayed Again to August 25 (or Later)
After the Appeals Court denied Apple’s motion for a stay of the ebook damages trial, Judge Denise Cote requested that Apple and the plaintiff states come up with a new schedule that would allow consumers enough time to be notified of the pending litigation (and whether they wish to opt out). The plaintiffs had indicated previously that Apple’s temporary stay and Appeals Court hearing rendered the scheduled July 14 trial date unworkable, but this is the first time the court has indicated a possible new date. As of now, the damages trial will be convened on August 25 at the earliest. According […]
Congressional Committee Hears Testimony On First Sale
As we noted last week, on Monday the House Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet of the House Judiciary Committee came to New York City to hear testimony on the first sale doctrine and the potential reuse of digital files. Sub-committee chair Bob Goodlatte underscored in his opening remarks that: “Although some legal doctrines may be invisible to Americans, the first sale doctrine is not one of them. First sale has been such an integral part of our economy that entire businesses have been built upon it such as Blockbuster video stores and Netflix by mail. Consumer expectations […]
Open Road Buys Another List, from Premier Digital
Shortly after acquiring the E-Reads ebook list of approximately 1,200 titles in April, Open Road is bulking up more with the acquisition of Premier Digital Publishing‘s list of over 300 ebooks. Open Road will take over publication of those titles, “a majority of which” are in the mystery, science fiction, and fantasy categories, in July. The acquisitions puts Open Road at over 6,000 titles in all. Premier Digital Publishing, founded in Los Angeles and now with offices in Toronto and New York, had attracted authors with a reported 80 percent royalty. A spokesperson for Open Road tells us that going forward […]
New Penguin Random House Logo Has Neither A Penguin Nor A House
The quest for a new Penguin Random House logo and brand identity has led not to one mark, but to 250. Neither the penguin nor the house logo won this contest; in fact, both have been left aside in favor of a single “wordmark” proclaiming “Penguin Random House” in type only. (The distinctive Penguin orange does live on as stripes alongside the words, and in some backgrounds.) The “corporate wordmark” is designed to live in harmony alongside all of the company’s existing 250 imprint and divisional logos and trademarks in a “brand system” that works for PRH units around the […]
People, Etc.
Former Atlantic Books editor-in-chief Ravi Mirchandani will join Pan Macmillan’s Picador as associate publisher on September 1, reporting to publisher Paul Baggaley. Founder and president of 800-CEO-READ Jack Covert retired on May 30, thirty years after he started the business books company. In a note on his blog last week Seth Godin remarked: “Jack Covert is one of the most important people in my little village of book publishing, a single individual outside the normal circles of New York, someone who cares and does something about it. Jack Covert relentlessly sees possibility when other people are ready to shrug their shoulders […]