With no buyer to be found, German bookseller Weltbild will close its 14 remaining stores by the end of August and liquidate. Most of the approximately 440 employees will lose their jobs. But Augsburger Allgemeine reports that the country’s leading bookseller Thalia is interested in acquiring assets from the bankruptcy estate — including inventory, trademark rights and the Tolino ereader and ebook business. Thalia has submitted an application to the Federal Cartel Office regarding its purchase interest.
IPG to Offer Client Digital Product to Libraries for Perpetual Access
Independent Publishers Group (IPG) has paired with the Digital Public Library of America to offer “tens of thousands of ebook and audiobook titles” from a number of their publisher clients for outright purchase and perpetual access, rather than time- or usage-limited access. IPG recently sold their digital distribution business to Bookwire. Clearly welcomed by libraries, unfortunately the announcement engages in inflammatory and disingenuous rhetoric. They claim that, “Since the advent and spread of digital content, libraries have only been able to license ebooks and audiobooks from publishers and aggregators with no option to buy, trapping libraries in licensing agreements where […]
Lakeside to Add New Press at Willard, OH Facility
Lakeside Book Company announced today it will add a new 64-page, 4-color offset, wide-web press (a manroland Goss Lithoman) at its big 1.3 million square foot Willard, Ohio plant. The press will be operational in less than a year and the company says the investment will create 100 new jobs at the facility. The plant already “produces upwards of 50 million books a year.”
People 8/15
Clive Priddle will step down as Public Affairs publisher, effective September 13.
Embedding Michael Wolff, with A Tape Recorder
The latest episode of the Open Book podcast features former Macmillan ceo John Sargent — recorded when he was promoting his book — discussing his battle with Amazon over ebook agency, his earlier days working for Dick Snyder at Simon & Schuster, and more, including this story about why Holt was so confident about Michael Wolff’s sourcing for his book, FIRE AND FURY: “Trump gets elected. Michael Wolff is under contract to write a book with us. Michael Wolff comes and says, ‘How about if we put that book on hold? I can get access into the Trump White House — […]
ProRata AI Promises Compensation and Credit for Content Owners
ProRata AI is another new player in the market to provide content creators and owners credit and compensation for the use of their work in AI chatbots. The company tells Axios they have raised $25 million in Series A financing, and their launch has the support of The Atlantic, Financial Times, Fortune, and Axel Springer. They also say they are “in advanced discussion with more than 100 noted authors.” Supporting authors already listed on their site include Adam Grant, Tony Robbins and Seth Godin. The company is “building its own, yet-to-be-named subscription AI chatbot that it plans to debut this […]