As Amazon’s universe of experiments with physical locations expands to cashierless Amazon Go outlets and rather focusless Amazon 4-Star stores, there are signs of at least a pause in the rollout of Amazon Books stores. It was recently reported that Amazon had passed on developing a Boise, ID location that was to have been their 19th books store. Adding to that, others noticed that a Books store in Atlanta’s Buckhead, reported in November 2017, has not come to pass either. Additionally, the company itself was listing an Amazon Books location “coming soon” in Lone Tree, CO that became a 4-Star […]
Archives for December 2018
To Kill A Mockingbird Play Reflects Harper Lee Estate’s Concerns, As Well As Playwright Sorkin’s Touch
In a year with no shortage of strange developments, one of the stranger was the March lawsuit brought by the Harper Lee estate against the producers of new stage version of To Kill A Mockingbird — settled out of court (and thus privately) in May, after production company Rudinplay had countersued the estate and its representative Tonja Carter in April. With the play officially opening this week, over the weekend the NYT provided a detailed assessment of the ways in which the script is likely to have changed since the settlement. By their evaluation, of 80 script elements that Carter […]
Progress: Breaking Out the Very Best of the Best of 2018 Fiction and Nonfiction
Now that we’re getting into mid-December we can break out our signature aggregation of “best books of 2018” lists from all over into distinct Top 10s for fiction and nonfiction. (We’ll return closer to the holidays with the final very best of the best of list.) None of the preliminary top 10 has fallen away yet, which is a little unusual, and the top fiction (There There) and nonfiction (Educated) titles are both pulling away and all but guaranteed to lead their categories on the final list. Beyond those two titles, all of the other contenders are tightly packed, however. […]
Swedish Subscription Service Positions Itself for Continuing International Growth
On December 3, Swedish digital audio and ebook subscription service Storytel moved trading of their B shares to the higher-profile Nasdaq First North (a part of the exchange reserved for small and high-growth European companies). As part of move, they provided an extensive company description that shares details about their growth and financials. Building on their foundation in Sweden, the company’s play is global: More than half of the close to 800,000 subscriber base resides outside of Sweden, reflecting an aggressive growth strategy in international markets, now including Norway, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, India, Spain, Iceland, UAE, Italy, […]
People, Etc.
Sara Sargent moves to Random House Children’s as senior executive editor. (She was previously executive editor for Harper Children’s.) Also, Hanna Glidden has been promoted to associate director of pub ops business process and support. At Berkley, Kristine Swartz has been promoted to editor and Sarah Blumenstock has been promoted to associate editor. Julia Ringo has been promoted to associate editor at Farrar, Straus. Roisin Davis has joined Haymarket Books as director of foreign rights. She will also continue as associate agent at Roam Agency. In the UK, Jenny Lord has been promoted to nonfiction publisher for Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Alan Samson expands his role to […]
Password Changes (and Please Change Your Password)
Members may remember that earlier this year we revamped our password system at Publishers Marketplace, allowing longer passwords and special characters and switching to a more secure way of resetting passwords via an online link (so that your data is never exposed via email). As previewed at the time, we’re now rolling in the final phase of that transition — a gentle requirement that passwords be updated every six months. (Many members have not updated their passwords in…years, and you’ll recall we just marked the site’s 17th anniversary.) The system will prompt you when it’s time to refresh your password, […]