Sainsbury’s is now the sole owner of fledgling ebookstore Anobii, the Bookseller reports, buying out Penguin Random House’s 24 percent stake and Harper UK’s 12 percent stake. (The company first acquired HMV’s 64 percent stake in Anobii in 2012.) Sainsbury’s said the move “gives it full control of the platform as part of its growing Sainsbury’s Entertainment digital offer”, with plans to expannd its current website selling film, music and books. Barnes & Noble will sell its current version of Nook GlowLight in the UK for £89, with the ereader stocked in retailers including Argos, ASDA, Blackwells, Foyles, John Lewis, […]
Archives for August 2014
“Traditional Titles” Dip Slightly in 2013, Bowker Reports
Bowker released its estimates of print book production for 2013, noting that what they call “traditional” output–which includes self-publishers like CreateSpace, but excludes public domain POD factories like BiblioBazaar — dipped 2 percent from 309,957 titles in 2012 to a projected 304,912 titles in 2013. Despite the decline as compared to the previous year (and general growth in the several years before then) Bowker said the result “points to a relatively stable market for print works despite competition from e-books.” The public domain business (or what Bowker refers to as “nontraditional” titles) declined far more significantly, to 1,108,183 titles, a […]
Perlstein’s INVISIBLE BRIDGE Subject to Plagiarism Controversy
Rick Perlstein’s THE INVISIBLE BRIDGE has been subject to a number of controversies as the book publishes today, among them “sloppy scholarship, improper attribution, and plagiarism”, the NYT reports. Of the most serious charges, Reagan historian Craig Shirley accused Perlstein of plagiarizing several passages (the NY Post reported “at least 45 instances”) from Shirley’s 2004 book REAGAN’S REVOLUTION. Shirley’s lawyer Chris Ashby “cited 19 instances of duplicated language and inadequate attribution” in two letters to Perlstein’s publisher Simon & Schuster and demanded “$25 million in damages, a public apology, revised digital editions and the destruction of all physical copies of […]
People
Louise Braverman has been promoted to director of publicity for Penguin Books and Penguin Classics. Jennifer Schuster has been promoted to executive editor at NAL/Celebra. The Tarcher and Perigee imprints announced a number of promotions and new hires. Sara Carder has been promoted to editorial director, Tarcher, while Joanna Ng moves up to assistant editor. Brianna Yamashita takes on responsibility for Perigee as executive director of publicity and marketing in tandem with Tarcher. Kevin Howell has been promoted to senior marketing manager for both imprints, while Jillian McElgunn moves up to marketing coordinator. Finally, Lindsey Ruthen has joined as senior […]
Safari Books Now Fully Owned By O’Reilly Media, and More
O’Reilly Media has become sole owner of Safari Books, buying out Pearson’s 50 percent stake for an undisclosed sum (though it’s expected Pearson will announce how much it was paid in their next financial report later this year.) Safari, founded in 2001 as a joint entity between O’Reilly and Pearson, will continue to operate as an independent company, and no changes will be made to staff, product, offices, and operations. In a blog post about the change, founder and ceo of O’Reilly Media Tim O’Reilly said the company “came to believe that there are substantial opportunities for both organizations working […]
People, Etc.
Jason Weidemann has been promoted to editorial director of University of Minnesota Press. He succeeds Richard Morrison, who left after fifteen years at UMP to become editorial director at Fordham University Press last month. At Macmillan, Krista Loercher has been promoted to director, Amazon sales. Sam Caggiula has joined Skyhorse as senior publicity manager. Previously he was a publicist at Rowman & Littlefield. Former Bertelsmann executive Richard Sarnoff has been named head of KKR & Co.’s Americas media and telecoms team, as well as a managing director of KKR. Sarnoff, a former co-chairman of Bertelsmann’s U.S. division, has been a […]