Following Douglas Preston’s open letter to which hundreds of well-known traditionally-published authors signed on, on Thursday a group of almost 30 self-published authors posted a petition of their own at Change.org in response (from online accounts, the letter was written by Hugh Howey and Joe Konrath). It’s offered “To Thank Our Readers,” but after the first 120 words, the balance of the 2,400-word-petition is a defense of, and appreciation of, Amazon. Many of the “supporters” who signed on — now at more than 5,000 people — are also self-published authors offering their own thanks to Amazon. The petition asserts a variety of “truths” […]
Archives for July 2014
Oxford University Press Results Flat On Year of “Structural Change”
Sales were flat Oxford University Press for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2014, at £759 million, and profit before tax from continuing operations declined £9 million, to £107 million. The press was able to transfer £50 million to the university. Digital sales comprised 19 percent of total revenues and grew by 7.5 percent during the year. A press release says that sales actually grew on a constant currency basis, by 7 percent (or by 3.6 percent on a continuing operations basis, before accounting for acquisitions — notably, the integration of educational publisher Nelson Thornes). OUP says it “invested in […]
Painted Horses Tops August Indie Next List
Malcolm Brooks’ debut novel Painted Horses — a spring/summer Publishers Lunch Buzz Books title — tops the ABA’s Indie Next List for August. Two more books from our newest (still available to read now for free) fall/winter Buzz Books sampler also make the list, The Magician’s Land by Lev Grossman and The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness. The rest of the list features: Lucky Us, by Amy Bloom Small Blessings, by Martha Woodroof A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman In the Kingdom of Ice, by Hampton Sides The Home Place, by Carrie La Seur Life Drawing, by Robin Black A Colder War, by […]
People, Etc.
Following the February announcement that Penguin Random House would close two Penguin warehouse/operations centers by 2015 and consolidate all US fulfillment operations into the Westminster, MD and Crawfordsville, IN facilities, there is a now a report on an expansion of that warehouse in Indiana. PRH is adding 350,00 square feet (growing by about 50 percent) and plans to add “up to 313 new jobs by 2016.” The first of the hiring will begin this August. Walter Dean Myers, 76, author of numerous children’s novels that chronicled struggles of urban youths, died July 1 at Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan […]
Open Letter From Authors to Readers About Amazon, Organized by Douglas Preston, Has “Gone Viral”
As we were first to report mid-day Wednesday, bestselling author Douglas Preston has been circulating by email an open letter from authors to their readers, objecting to how Amazon has “directly targeted Hachette’s authors in an effort to force their publisher to agree to its terms,” enlisting signatories. (Preston’s forthcoming book THE LOST ISLAND, co-authored by Lincoln Child and due August 5, has been directly affected by Amazon’s removal of pre-orders for HBG titles.) On Wednesday morning, when we obtained the email, that effort “seems to have gone viral,” Preston told us, after a few weeks of his “quietly working on […]
Amazon Revises 20-Year Customer-First Policy
In brief remarks to the WSJ, longtime Amazon executive Russ Grandinetti has rewritten the core principle that has guided Amazon and its founder Jeff Bezos for the past 20 years. As the many Bezos quote compilations will confirm for you, their position has always been, “We start with what the customer needs and we work backwards.” They “don’t focus on the optics of the next quarter; we focus on what is going to be good for customers.” There have been “three big ideas at Amazon that we’ve stuck with for 18 years, and they’re the reason we’re successful: Put the customer […]