Spotify Sees Audiobooks As A “Massive Opportunity”
During the company’s Investor Day on Wednesday, Spotify founder and ceo Daniel Ek asserted that, “We believe that audiobooks, in their many different forms, will be a massive opportunity.” Spotify’s planned acquisition of audiobook distributor Findaway, which they had expected to close quickly before the end of 2021, is still pending, presumably awaiting regulatory approval. Ek deployed some typically creative/expansive tech-world math to quantify the opportunity they foresee: Audiobooks currently have about 6-7 percent of the market share of the global book market, which he said was around $140 billion, but in “the most penetrated audiobook markets” (presumably Scandinavian countries […]
Reese’s Book Club
The Reese's Book Club pick for June is Counterfeit by Kirstin Chen.
‘The Carbon Almanac’ Written By Over 300 Volunteer Debut Authors, Orchestrated by Seth Godin
Last fall, bestselling author and change agent Seth Godin mobilized 300 people from 41 countries to create a book, but also a podcast network, a LinkedIn course, a comprehensive resource collection, an educator guide, and a free children’s edition—for free. On July 12, Portfolio will publish The Carbon Almanac, seven months after acquisition. The book is a collection of information and resources on the science of, impacts from, and solutions to climate change, compiled by a worldwide team of “writers, researchers, thinkers, and illustrators.” Inspired by reading Kim Stanley Robinson’s cli-fi Ministry of the Future last summer, Godin decided to […]
Pearson Sells K-12 Businesses in Italy and Germany
Pearson announced that it has sold its K-12 courseware (e.g. textbook) businesses in Italy and Germany to European learning services company Sanoma Corporation, for £163 million in cash. Sanoma will also handle Italian distribution of Pearson’s English Language Teaching products. In 2021, the Italian and German textbook businesses generated sales of about £90 million and adjusted operating profit of about £9 million, the company said in a release. The sale price reflects an enterprise value multiple of 15.5x, they noted. Pearson has done better with their international K-12 textbook lines than they did in the US, where they practically gave […]
New Books Publishing June 7
In this mammoth week of new releases, Tom Perrotta, Therese Anne Fowler and Matthew Quirk lead new titles in fiction, while nonfiction includes memoirs from James Patterson and Charles McGrath. Also out today are eight titles featured in advance in our Buzz Books 2022: Spring/Summer sampler, by Nishant Batsha, Carter Bays, Sloane Crosley, Salma El-Wardany, J. M. Miro, Annabel Monaghan and Claire Pooley. 38 works of fiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-fiction-publishing-june-7 https://shop.aer.io/publishers_lunch/cl/New_Fiction_Publishing_June/223102 19 nonfiction titles https://bookshop.org/lists/new-nonfiction-publishing-june-7 https://shop.aer.io/publishers_lunch/cl/New_Nonfiction_Publishing_June_/223103 27 children’s titles https://bookshop.org/lists/new-children-s-titles-publishing-in-june https://shop.aer.io/publishers_lunch/cl/New_Childrens_Titles_Publishing_In_June/223101 We consult a number of sources in compiling our weekly lists and PM members can see our lists for the coming […]