Readerlink has acquired the former Reader’s Digest Children’s Publishing, which has been operating as Studio Fun International, and will merge the list into their Printers Row Publishing Group and existing group of imprints. The release notes that “on a transitional basis, some SFI employees will continue to perform similar duties and tasks under a transitional arrangement with ReaderLink” — suggesting that in general, the employees of SFI will not have a permanent home at ReaderLink. The list includes titles licensed from Disney, Disney*Pixar, Marvel, and LucasFilm properties, as well as books under license from Nickelodeon, DreamWorks, Mattel, Hasbro, and Sesame Workshop. ReaderLink ceo Dennis Abboud […]
Archives for October 2016
Jolly Fish Press to Close At End of October
Young adult book publisher Jolly Fish Press announced abruptly on their web site that the publisher will close at the end of October, unless “another option will present itself to us in lieu of closing.” The publisher says that it “failed to secure the funds necessary to grow and move the company forward” after “a long process of seeking investors who believe in our company and what we aim to achieve.” Therefore, “We have approached the point where we can no longer sustain our business.” Authors and agents were upset both by the closing and by the lack of any advance notice […]
As Amazon Investigates, Kindle Unlimited Page Reads Drop In September
Amazon announced their retroactive payment pool for Kindle Unlimited authors for September, set at $15.9 million — up $100,000 from August — paying $0.00497397. As we noted last week, many of those authors have been very concerned about sudden drops in page reads (and some have reported notable declines in Amazon ebook sales as well). The complaints were significant enough that Amazon responded three times with official messages. The first acknowledged that “we uncovered one timing-based reporting issue affecting less than 0.2% of pages read which we fixed on 9/28.” A day later, they reported, “We regularly monitor pages-read systems for […]
People
Jamison Stoltz has joined Abrams as executive editor for a soon-to-be launched text-driven imprint with a focus on narrative nonfiction, set to publish 12-15 titles annually. Stoltz was previously senior editor at Grove Atlantic. Abrams president and ceo Michael Jacobs said in the announcement: “As we continue to expand and evolve, as well as plan for the next phase of our growth we see a real opportunity for our already successful adult publishing lists to add a text-driven imprint to our portfolio. We want to publish more writers in our special way. This is our moment to do so.” Publisher of […]
People, Etc.
Former longtime USA Today books reporter and critic Bob Minzesheimer, 66, died October 15 at his home in Ossining, NY of brain cancer. Minzesheimer joined Gannett in 1982, eventually becoming politics editor for USA Today before moving over to books and features from 1997 through 2014. He is survived by his wife, the documentary filmmaker Mary McDonagh Murphy, and their two children. A memorial service is planned in Ossining at a later date. Murphy told the local paper, “Nobody in his family went to college. Bob got his master’s at Columbia. His life was more than what he thought it would be, and […]
Another Disappointing Update from Pearson Sends Shares Down Further
Pearson’s third quarter trading update surprised investors who thought they had become accustomed to the education giant’s postponed recovery. The statement reads politely, “Pearson is reiterating its 2016 guidance and its 2018 goals are unchanged,” but the numbers have sales for the first three quarters of the year down 7 percent in underlying terms, and down 10 percent measured in constant exchange rates, saved a bit by the plunging British pound, which leaves actual topline numbers down only 3 percent (since two-thirds of their revenue comes in US dollars). That’s actually a little less poorly than they were doing at the […]