Kobo has released a white paper designed to show publishers and authors how reader data that platforms like Kobo compile “can actually help publishers unlock previously hidden equity within their publishing lists and inform decisions on which authors and franchises to invest in, which ones are running out of steam, and where trouble may lie within any individual book.” Multiple examples focus on “completion rates”; books that readers actually finish. Apparently, large numbers of people do not finish their ebooks. As an example, “the industry benchmark for completion in mystery books is 62 percent.” Books with higher-than-average completion rates with […]
Archives for October 2014
New Republic Cover Story: “Amazon Must Be Stopped”
Franklin Foer writes a cover story for the New Republic online now about that marvelous modern monopoly: “Amazon is the shining representative of a new golden age of monopoly that also includes Google and Walmart. Unlike U.S. Steel, the new behemoths don’t use their barely challenged power to hike up prices. They are, in fact, self-styled servants of the consumer and have ushered in an era of low prices for everything from flat-screen TVs to paper napkins to smart phones.In other words, we’re all enjoying the benefits of these corporations far too much to think hard about distant dangers.” Foer […]
People
John Maas and Sarah Passick have joined Sterling Lord Literistic as associate agents, working with Celeste Fine on platform-driven nonfiction. Maas was previously an assistant editor at Wiley and will focus on serious nonfiction, business, science, and personal development. Passick was an agent at Stonesong and will focus on commercial nonfiction, food, celebrity, bloggers, and successfully self-published authors. Tim Wudurski has joined Chronicle Books as manager of production and creative systems. Previously, was responsible for production and IT at California Home+Design, 7×7 and Spin. At Basic Books, Cassie Nelson is being promoted to director of publicity, and Betsy DeJesu is rising to associate director of […]
Briefs: Hachette Launches Author Portal, Yale Moves Up Modiano
Hachette Book Group has launched their Author and Agent Portal as a “channel” within their business-facing site hachettebookgroup.biz. Similar to portals from Simon & Schuster, Random House and others, it includes unit sales information by title, weekly Nielsen BookScan sales data, an “interactive publication timeline for the 12 months prepublication,” a feature for sending large files between author and editor, and an online-piracy-reporting tool. Hachette Book Group CEO Michael Pietsch says in the announcement, “The Portal is designed to add transparency to the publishing experience by making sales data and resources readily available and easy to use to authors and agents, our valued partners in the […]
In Settlement, Foreword Literary Changes Name to Fuse
Foreword Literary agency announced that they are changing their name to Fuse Literary, under an out-of-court settlement with Foreword Magazine. Founded in 2013, the agency will continue to operate as before. Founding partner Laurie McLean says in a statement: “The owners of Fore Word Magazine, Inc. felt that people in publishing would be confused by the similar sounding names of our literary agency and their quarterly review magazine. We vehemently disagreed, but a lengthy court battle was untenable in terms of time and money wasted, so we decided to change our name.” McLean adds that the new name “embodies our […]
Amazon Reported to Prepare Retail(ish) Space In New York By Empire State Building
The WSJ reports that Amazon is opening some kind of physical, operating presence — will it include or operate as a store? — on 34th in Midtown Manhattan, across from the Empire State Building. According to “people familiar with the plans,” the space “would function as a mini-warehouse, with limited inventory for same-day delivery within New York, product returns and exchanges, and pickups of online orders.” They add, less definitively, that “Amazon also may consider using the space to showcase inventory, particularly its devices like the Kindle e-readers, Fire smartphone or Fire TV set-top box.” The store is deemed an experiment. […]