Open Road has found that highlighting banned and challenged books in targeted promotions significantly drives awareness and sales. In their initial marketing efforts to “highly targeted segments of power readers” identified by the company’s data science and machine learning technology, “The initial response from readers has been extraordinary, with unheard-of open rates above 75 percent on segmented email sends.” As a result, the company is rolling out a Free Voices marketing initiative, open to all publishers, that can promote ebook editions (which require “limited time, consumer-friendly ebook pricing”), print and audio editions, or both. Chief marketing officer Peter McCarthy says […]
Next Big Idea Tries Original Short Audiobooks
Next Big Idea Club is “pivoting” with the launch of Next Big Idea Originals, an imprint offering short, nonfiction audiobooks. Founder and ceo Rufus Griscom calls it, “A critical inflection point in the expansion of our business model.” He says the new audios, “Mark a key moment in our evolution into a next generation publisher. We intend to build a two-sided marketplace between authors and readers/learners, with an emphasis on shorter formats and audio delivery.” The first audio shorts, averaging 60 minutes in length, are IMMORTALITY: A Users Guide by Steven Johnson, and a forthcoming work by Nir Eyal, author […]
Penguin Random House Acquires Callisto Media In A Deal Led and Managed By Sourcebooks
Penguin Random House has acquired the publishing assets of once high-flying start-up Callisto Media, in a deal led (and announced) by their partner Sourcebooks, which will manage the Callisto catalog and publishing program. PRH will incorporate Callisto’s data analysis toolset into PRH’s existing infrastructure and tech stack. The deal closed earlier today, for undisclosed terms. Callisto Media ceo and founder Benjamin Wayne and his “key leaders” will join Sourcebooks and a “portion of the organization” will join PRH on the data side. Wayne acknowledged there will be some “redundancies” in finance and various other corporate functions as part of the […]
Obituary: Roy Finamore
James Beard–award winning author and notable editor of cookbooks and lifestyle books Roy Finamore, 70, died on May 6 after a brief illness. He was at an editor at Stewart, Tabori & Chang and then Clarkson Potter, where he published cookbooks by authors including Martha Stewart, Ina Garten, Diana Kennedy, Jean Anderson, Anne Willan, Lee Bailey, Carole Walter, Tom Colicchio, Bobby Flay, and Gale Gand. He won the James Beard Foundation Award for Best General Cookbook in 2007 for his second book as an author, TASTY: Get Great Food on the Table Every Day.
Proposals for Internet Archive Judgment “Will Take Some Time,” and More From the AAP Meeting
The AAP publishers and Internet Archive are due to submit proposals “for the appropriate procedure to determine the judgment to be entered” in the verdict finding the IA guilty of mass copyright infringement by later this week after multiple delays. But during the AAP’s virtual annual meeting on Monday, ceo Maria Pallante implied that more time will be needed. “Both sides are discussing a possible stipulation as to the scope of injunctive relief, damages and attorneys fees at the request of the judge,” Pallante reported. But, “This process is extremely important and detailed, and it will take some time.” During a […]
Backman Leaves Forum, Salomonsson Agency
Author Fredrik Backman recently announced that he is switching literary agents and will leave the Salomonsson Agency. Backman told Svensk Bokhandel that he terminated his representation early in the year and will be free to change representation this summer when his notice period expires. “After that I will move to an American agency. There is no conflict, it is a completely personal decision,” Backman wrote to them in an email. He will be looking for a new publisher in Sweden as well, after publishing seven books with Forum. “It was undramatic and entirely because of me,” Backman wrote. “I still […]