Penguin Random House announced to US employees a new Student Loan Repayment Assistance Program that starts in January. The company will provide all full-time employees who have been employed at least one year with a student loan repayment of up to $1,200 annually — for up to seven and a half years — totaling a maximum of $9,000. CEO Markus Dohle writes: “I know all too well that student loan debt burdens a great deal of our colleagues…. We have always believed in doing our part to tackle broader societal challenges by starting within our own communities. We want to honor the investments you […]
Archives for November 2016
People
The Zora Neale Hurston Trust is now being represented by the Joy Harris Literary Agency. (Hurston’s work was previously represented by Victoria Sanders & Associates.) Singer-songwriter, poet, and novelist Leonard Cohen, 82, died Thursday. Jared Bland at his longtime publisher McClelland & Stewart said in a statement, “His work, in all its forms, touched our hearts, informed our lives, and made our world better. It is almost impossible to imagine a world without his singular voice. His presence will never be forgotten. His profound art will endure.” Literary agent Ed Victor celebrated 40 years in business at a party in London on […]
Kelly Denies Her Book SETTLE FOR MORE Says What NYT Reported
In advance of the book’s publication on November 15, NYT book critic Jennifer Senior also obtained a copy of Megyn Kelly’s SETTLE FOR MORE — first written about by Radar — and ran an early review (rather than a news story). Senior writes about Kelly’s accounts of president-elect Donald Trump’s behavior towards her, and adds to the story of Kelly’s allegations against ousted Fox chief executive Roger Ailes. She writes that Ailes “engineered hit pieces about me online” after she declined to defend him this summer, presenting her with this option: “I could ensure that the owners of Fox News Channel — […]
Amazon Changes Third-Party Seller Rules
Amazon instituted new selling and shipping rules for third party media sellers that will increase the fees reaped by the etailer, and effectively end of the economic viability of selling so-called “penny books” on the site. As of March 1, 2017, the fees for selling media products, including books, will rise in two ways. The per item fee will increase to $1.80, up from $1.35 per item, and going forward “will be a fixed fee rate and not variable.” Additionally, the referral fee they charge will go from 15 percent of the item price to 15 percent of the total sales (including […]
EU Court Affirms Libraries’ Right to Lend Legal eBooks
The European Union’s Court of Justice issued a ruling on Thursday that declares EU rules about a public lending right to physical books through libraries apply to ebooks as well. The judgment imposes as a legal right what has become established business practice in the US for some time (albeit with a number of business model variations publisher by publisher): Libraries can lend legally published and purchased ebooks on a one-user-per-copy basis. EU rules require “fair compensation” to authors; what’s not clear to us from the ruling is whether those rules allow a separate practice from some publishers in the US […]
Denmark’s JP/Politikens Forms Swedish Publishing House, Polaris
Denmark-based publishing company JP/Politikens will launch a new publishing house in Sweden, Polaris Förlag, concentrating on literary fiction, crime and thrillers, and popular nonfiction, in the second half of 2017. Polaris, which will operate as an independent unit of JP/Politikens and based in Stockholm, will be overseen by Jonas Axelsson, most recently director of Bonnier Group and ceo of Partners in Stories. JP/Politikens managing director Lene Juul said in the announcement: “The Swedish book market is interesting as we currently see a positive market development. And with Jonas Axelsson we have found the right person to start our new business […]