Final “reply comments” on the US Copyright Office’s “study of the copyright law and policy issues raised by artificial intelligence systems” are due by the end of day Wednesday. While the office itself has not yet posted any of the replies, the AAP has provided a copy of their comments to the media. The organization states its “forceful opposition to the flawed and inaccurate assertions submitted by some tech companies and/or their investors in the first comment round, in which they position copyright and the protection of creative expression as an obstacle to innovation and progress. This is nonsense. Copyright […]
Bloom Books Scales to $100 Million; Print Sales Rise In November
Less than three years after its founding, Sourcebooks’ Bloom Books imprint is having a banner year, on track to finish 2023 with almost $100 million in gross sales worldwide according to the company. That has to make the line among the fastest-growing new imprints ever. In outlets tracked by Circana Bookscan, Bloom Books has sold 6.4 million print units so far in 2023, rocketing up from just under 1 million units the same time a year ago. Highlights include sales of more than 1.85 million print units of books by Ana Huang this year, and over 1.5 million print units […]
Leaver Unveils New Publishing Group
Marcus Leaver has announced the launch of his new company, Gemini Books Group. The goal is to “build a publishing business focused on the UK and North American markets through the acquisition of established companies and by incubating start-up businesses in scalable areas of the market.” Gemini has acquired Imagine That!, Palazzo Editions, Ad Lib Publishers, Mardle Books and Pimpernel Press. Managing director of Palazzo and Mardle Jon Rippon serves as group finance director of Gemini and sits on the board. Leaver says in the announcement, “I look forward to working with Jon to build a publishing business where we […]
PM For the Holidays
If you are looking for a delightful digital stocking stuffer, we have just added a fun new option at Publishers Marketplace: Now it’s easy to give a PM Quick Pass as a gift. You can buy a Quick Pass Gift Certificate, and you’ll get an emailable gift receipt with redeemable code. Or for something weightier — a good 6.7 pounds worth — our definitive book on THE TRIAL: The DOJ’s Suit to Block Penguin Random House’s Acquisition of Simon & Schuster remains an amazing document for any publishing library. As NY Magazine noted, “It’s like the Mueller report for publishing […]
Quarto to Go Private
As we suggested well over a year ago, there has been little reason for Quarto Publishing to continue operating as a publicly traded company on the London Stock Exchange — and on Thursday morning, the company announced a plan to go private. CK Lau and his Honk Kong-based company 1010 Printing Limited already have a controlling 50.08 percent stake in Quarto, with lead minority investor Andrea Giunti Lombardo owning 22.34 percent. The stock trades very lightly, and fell substantially at the end of August when Quarto reported a 16 percent decline in sales for the first six months of their […]
Multiple Titles Vie for Overall Book of the Year
With almost 25 lists counted so far (and likely another 25 or more to go before the end of the year), our annual aggregation of the very best of the “best books of the year” is taking shape, right on schedule. The good news is that there are a number of novels getting honors, with titles by Nana Kwame Adheu-Brenyah, R.F. Kuang and James McBride tied at the top for now, and works by Paul Murray, Ann Napolitano and Jesmyn Ward are close behind. Safiya Sinclair’s memoir has a clear lead among nonfiction titles, and the historical pattern makes it […]