Harper Children’s is testing a “viral mobile initiative” with 2D barcodes. Book browswers in a store take a picture of the codes with any smartphone and, in tandem with a free downloadable application, the code links to a web site optimized for mobile viewing. For the first book, Lauren Conrad’s LA Candy, the code connects to a video and author Q&A. Harper says the code for August’s paperback release of Freakonomics “will include exclusive content related to the book and to the fall publication of Superfreakonomics.” And Harper Teen’s new series The Amanda Project promises to “incorporate the codes to […]
Justice Department Asks Publishers for Information on Google
Two publishing executives confirm to the WSJ that they have received “a civil investigative demands” from the Justice Department as it requests more information as part of their evaluation of the pending Google Book Search settlement. An anonymous executive says, “They are looking at all aspects of the proposed settlement. It shouldn’t be overblown.” Attorney for the Authors Guild Michael Boni subsequently tells the NYT that CIDs have gone to the Guild, the AAP, Google, and a number of publishers. “They are asking for a lot of information,” Boni says. “It signals that they are serious about the antitrust implications […]
Arcade Files for Chapter 11 Protection
Jeannette Seaver filed for bankruptcy protection for Arcade Publishing last week, with assets of $4.5 million and liabilities of $6.3 million. The company owes Little, Brown almost $500,000 for a loan and distribution services. The filing, as quoted by Crain’s, says that “the challenges of a small, independent publisher were made especially difficult by the current economic climate. For the past several months since the death of the Debtor’s president, Richard Seaver [who died in January] the Debtor has struggled in an effort to reorganize and seek investors. The loss of Mr. Seaver coupled with the ongoing financial issues in […]
US Attorney Fitzgerald Threatens Harper with Defamation Suit Over Revised Paperback of Book on Terrorism Cases
In other legal news, federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald threatened to sue HarperCollins in a letter to the publisher about their forthcoming new edition of Peter Lance’s TRIPLE CROSS: How bin Laden’s Master Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets, and the FBI. (The new paperback is said to contain “26 additional pages and an introduction responding to Fitzgerald.”) Fitzgerald tells the AP “the book lied about the facts and alleged that I deliberately misled the courts and the public in ways that in part caused the deaths in the 1998 embassy bombing attacks and in the attacks of Sept. 11, […]
ScrollMotion's Reader Featured at Apple Conference
ScrollMotion was among the app makers to be featured at yesterday’s Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, gaining international attention for the new version of their Iceberg Reader, coming this summer when Apple updates the operating system for the iPhone. ScrollMotion will take advantage of Apple’s newly-added “in-app purchasing” capability so that users of its readers can buy books and magazine subscriptions directly from within the app. (Which means they will purchase through their iTunes account, and Apple will get a piece of the business.) ScrollMotion claims that they will build to offering one million books, along with 50 magazines and 170 […]
People and More
Yesterday Barnes & Noble named Katherine Howe’s debut novel The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane as their latest chainwide “recommended” title. Harper UK’s children’s division is making the same cuts to staff that were recently imposed on the rest of the company, with publishing directors Gillie Russell and Sue Buswell both leaving the company. But managing director Mario Santos tells the Bookseller “both Gillie and Sue have agreed to continue to work with us on specific projects.” But an update of the story says Buswell will join Random House Children’s at the end of June as part-time maternity cover for […]