Welbeck Publishing Group has created a standalone subsidiary to publish titles directly into the Australia/New Zealand market, in partnership with online retailer Booktopia, which has a 25 percent stake in the new Sydney-based business in exchange for a $3 million (AU) investment. Booktopia will distribute Welbeck’s 4,500 title backlist in ANZ and will form an ANZ publishing program that aims to publish 50 titles per year in fiction, narrative nonfiction, children’s, and illustrated/gift books. Welbeck’s Mark Smith will relocate to Australia for a few months in early 2022 to help set up the business and recruit staff. Marcus Leaver will […]
Archives for July 2021
Forthcoming: Obama and Springsteen
Penguin Random House announced the global publication on October 26 of RENEGADES: Born in the USA by Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen, a collection of conversations that began on their Spotify podcast of the same name in 2020. PRH stated, “They share exclusive stories and ruminations about life, music, and their enduring love of America, with all its challenges and contradictions.” The full-color book will also include personal photographs, Springsteen’s handwritten lyrics, and Obama’s annotated speeches. English-language editions will be published by Crown in the US and Canada, and by Viking UK in the UK/Commonwealth. The US hardcover is $50. […]
Epic Sold to India’s Byju for $500 Million; McEvoy Sells I See Me
Digital reading platform for kids Epic has been sold to India’s most valuable startup Byju for $500 million in cash and stock. (TechCrunch first reported the two parties in sale talks in March.) Epic says its user base includes 2 million teachers and 50 million students, and was fueled by at least $51 million in venture capital. Byju founder and ceo Byju Raveendran suggests that Epic’s revenues are appoximately $100 million this year. Presumably the platform’s continued growth will be good for the publishers that license their content to the subscription service. Reportedly Epic soon expand to India and other […]
AAP May Stats Are A Split Screen
The AAP released their StatShot report for publisher-reported May sales with print book shipments remaining strong — and adult sales in particular — even as consumer sales reflected some falling back to earth with more moderate growth in digital audio and a drop in ebook sales. Total trade sales of $633 million were still up $53 million (or 9.1 percent) compared to $580 million in 2020 — but that was when the business was still grappling with the early stages of the pandemic, and before the June burst in sales of books by Black authors that helped lead the year’s […]
People 7/21
At Gallery, Sydney Morris has been promoted to senior publicist.
Today at Noon: Discuss AMA with children’s editor Stacey Barney
Join publisher and editor Stacey Barney online at this Publishers Marketplace link today at noon Eastern, the latest guest on our Discuss forum, to ask questions about publishing and editing children’s books. A reminder that these are straightforward typed message board conversations. No cameras, no sound, no zooming, no separate apps required. Use the “reply” button to type your questions or comments, and Stacey will post back.