The Commerce Department’s Internet Policy Task Force issued a white paper on first sale (as well as remixes and statutory damages) that will find favor, or at least relief, among publishers, if not with libraries. The simple conclusion that is that paper advises leaving the first sale doctrine as is and not extending it to digital products, standing with the Copyright Office’s previous findings from way back in 2001. For now, they found that the marketplace is working well in using digital to extend new benefits and options to consumers and unlike the folks over at Justice, Commerce says, “we […]
Archives for January 2016
People, Etc.
Fiona Kennedy is leaving her position as managing director and publisher of Orion Children’s “to pursue other interests.” The company confirms to the Bookseller that “a small number of roles” were eliminated over the last year following the consolidation of Hachette UK’s three children’s lines into a single unit. Also at Hachette UK, the company is closing their digital-only vintage crime imprint The Murder Room, and publisher Julia Silk will leave the company at the end of January after 10 years at Orion. In a statement Orion said, “After three years, it is clear that the market is not as buoyant as we’d anticipated […]
Amazon Grows, But Profits Aren’t Enough for Traders
Amazon reported fourth quarter sales after the close of the market on Thursday, with revenues growing 22 percent to $35.7 billion, and net income of $482 million in the fourth quarter, or $1.00 per diluted share. While those sound like strong results (record results, even), analysts were expecting slightly higher sales ($35.98 billion) and much stronger earnings of $1.58 per share, so the stock is down — falling about 9 percent first thing Friday after having risen on Thursday ahead of the earnings announcement. The AWS unit generated $687 million in operating income (while the entire company had $1.1 billion of operating income in […]
WTF: Swear Word Coloring Books Charge the Bestseller Lists
When Amazon’s CreateSpace helped power the self-published The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep to the top of the charts it was a sweet story, but self-published print success has taken on a different face this month, with a wave of “swear word” coloring books. One Swear Word Adult Coloring Book sold enough units to enter Nielsen Bookscan’s overall bestseller list at No. 54 for the sales week ending January 24. That same title was No. 1 on Amazon’s weekly bestseller list (the real one, that counts actual sales over the course of a full week) for the same sales week […]
Extra Programming Fills Three Full Days At Digital Book World
As we noted last week, Digital Book World has released a free white paper with viewpoints on publishing’s digital transformation that’s worth checking out regardless of whether you have our big conference from March 7 – 9 in New York City on your schedule. With the show coming up soon, there’s a little over a week to enroll before the last main “early pricing” level expires. And please use this special registration link for Publishers Lunch readers to save truly hundreds of dollars off the posted individual ticket prices; it’s the best discount available. Beyond the keynoters and themes covered […]
People, Etc.
Stephanie Fretwell-Hill will join Red Fox Literary as an agent. Previously she was an editor at Peachtree Publishers. Former Viking editor Maggie Riggs has launched The Riggs Agency, specializing in literary fiction, in addition to select non-fiction works including narrative non-fiction, essays, memoir, and food writing. Chair of Penguin Random House UK Gail Rebuck has joined the board of the Guardian. Former bookseller and founder of the Hue-Man Bookstores Clara Villarosa is starting a boutique publishing company, Villarosa Media, with her daughters Linda (former executive editor of Essence Magazine) and Alicia (a writer and blogger). They will publish books “primarily by and about African Americans and […]