E.L. Doctorow, 84, author of critically admired and award-winning novels such as Ragtime and Billy Bathgate, died Tuesday in Manhattan from complications of lung cancer. Before turning to fiction full-time, Doctorow worked as an editor at NAL and then Dial Press (where he became editor-in-chief). Among the many honors Doctorow received throughout his career included the National Book Award, three National Book Critics Circle Awards, two PEN Faulkner Awards, the Edith Wharton Citation for Fiction, and the presidentially conferred National Humanities Medal. Doctorow’s longtime editor at Random House Kate Medina said in a statement: “Edgar’s work has always been ascendant, […]
Archives for July 2015
Apple Disappoints Investors By Outperforming Only A Little
There is business, and then there is Wall Street. Apple reported third quarter sales on Tuesday afternoon, with sales growing 33 percent to $49.6 billion and earnings growing 45 percent to $10.7 billion — exceeding at least some of analysts’ expectations, but only by small amounts, which led to the stock dropping about 6 percent Wednesday morning. iPhone sales were strong at 47.5 million units, while iPad sales continue to erode, at 10.9 million units (compared to 13.3 million in the same quarter a year ago). Lifetime iPad sales are now approximately 284 million units. The reporting line that includes iTunes and the […]
Houghton Moves to Some Kind of Agency
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt appears to have reached a new ebook sales agreement with Amazon and looks to be working with a modified form of agency across their ebook accounts now. Like their peers, the company declined to discuss their retailer terms. But the Amazon listings are a fairly reliable guide. All of HMH’s ebooks are now listed on Amazon with the telltale indication that “this price was set by the publisher.” From our analysis of multiple price listings, when Amazon lists only a print price and a Kindle price, they seem to be selling the ebook at HMH’s stipulated consumer digital […]
Corporate: Holtzbrinck Will Also Drop DRM In Germany; BookTrack Raises More
A meaningful portion of the big ebook publishers in Germany — where Kindle has lower market share than in many other developed ebook markets — is moving away from formal DRM to digital watermarking instead. Holtzbrinck’s trade imprints are the latest to make the move, as of August. Their lines include Droemer Knaur, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Rowohlt and S. Fischer. Bonnier Germany dropped DRM on their ebooks as of July 1, and other German publishers of note including dtv, Hoffman & Campe, and Luebbe gave up DRM earlier in the year. Separately, Booktrack has raised an additional $5 million in Series B financing, with the […]
People, Etc.
At HarperCollins Children’s, Alana Whitman has been promoted to senior manager, integrated marketing while Alison Noll moves up to assistant manager, integrated marketing operations. Obituary Owner of Merritt Bookstore in Millbrook, NY Scott Meyer died July 19. The store has been up for sale. Co-owner of nearby Oblong Books & Music said, “The work that he has done for books and authors and readers is unmeasurable.” Initiatives HarperCollins is the latest large publisher to launch an agent portal which will provide US-based agents with royalty statements (from June 2014 going forward), US sales data (broken down by sales channel) and anti-piracy information (as well as […]
Briefs: WATCHMAN Opening Week Sales; Entitle Shuts Down; and More
HarperCollins announced that Harper Lee‘s Go Set A Watchman sold more than 1.1 million units in North America since going on sale last Tuesday, with 3.3 million copies now in print. (Earlier Penguin Random House UK indicated Watchman had sold 105,000 copies in its first day on sale.) Subscription service Entitle Books announced it will shut down on Tuesday, July 21, telling customers on its website that they can move over to Scribd for a one-month free trial. Touchstone is launching Glommable, a consumer-facing pop culture website featuring content from various Internet personalities, shareable quotes, slides, and more. Authors featured include […]