On Monday a federal judge in Montana tossed out a lawsuit filed by four book buyers against Greg Mortenson and Penguin on the grounds that THREE CUPS OF TEA’s alleged fabrications deceived the quartet into believing the book was nonfiction. In dimissing the complaint charging fraud, deceit, racketeering and breach of contract, US district judge Sam Haddon said the lawsuit, which has been pending for more than a year, was based on “imprecise, in part flimsy, and speculative” claims and that the further pursuit of legal action “would be futile.” Haddon was particularly critical of the plaintiffs’ racketeering claims, saying […]
eNews: Warner Bros. Scripts Turned Into eBooks; DemiBooks’ New Children’s Appstore; and More
Warner Bros. announced it would sell four of the movie studio’s classic scripts — CASABLANCA, BEN-HUR, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, and NORTH BY NORTHWEST — as enhanced ebooks for Kindle, Nook, and iPad. It’s the first part of a large-scale initiative in which they hope to turn hundreds of scripts into ebooks. The WSJ reports each title will retail for $10 and “includes the film’s actual shooting script and rare historical documents from the Warner Bros. archives.” President of Warner Bros. digital distribution Thomas Gewecke told the paper the company “had been looking at a variety of ideas to leverage […]
People, Etc.
Chantal Restivo- Alessi has joined HarperCollins as chief digital officer, reporting to Brian Murray, and filling the position vacated by Charlie Redmayne when he joined Pottermore. She will also sit on the company’s executive committee. In her new role, Restivo-Alessi, most recently head of media corporate finance at ING Bank in London, will be responsible for leading the overall global digital strategy for the company, manage the commercial relationships with existing and new digital partners, and grow the digital revenues worldwide, working closely with all the divisions of the company worldwide. Leslie Hulse, svp digital business development, will report to […]
Corporate: Scholastic Expect More Earnings Thanks to Hunger Games Sales; Secound Round Bids for Flammarion
Scholastic significantly increased its earnings guidance for fiscal 2012, which ends on May 31, to exceed $3.40 a share, “based on stronger than anticipated sales of The Hunger Games trilogy following the March 23 movie release.” Previously, the company projected annual earnings of between $2.60 to $2.90 per diluted share, while the company’s prior guidance for revenue and free cash flow remains unchanged. The sale process for French publisher Flammarion by its Italian owner RCS Media continues, with a number of reports indicating that five publishers have submitted second-round bids starting at 300 million euros. France’s Actes Sud and Albin […]
People, Etc.
Amber Guetebier has been promoted to editor at Red Wheel Weiser Books and Conari Press. She was formerly assistant editor. Chad Harbach won the Book-of-the-Month Club’s First Fiction Award for The Art of Fielding; Tea Obreht won the Quality Paperback Club’s New Voices Award for her debut novel The Tiger’s Wife, and Conor Grennan received the QBPC’s nonfiction New Visions award for Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal. Author Toni Morrison is among the 13 new recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom–along with former University of Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt, whose latest memoir was just announced. […]
BN Puts Nook and College Business Into New Subsidiary, With Microsoft Investing $300 Million
The future of both Barnes & Noble and the digital reading business took new shape Monday morning as the bookseller announced the creation of a new subsidiary, into which they have transferred all of the Nook and BN College units (comprising “their digital device, digital content and college bookstore businesses.”) Microsoft is investing $300 million in that subsidiary–called simply NewCo for now (a standard corporate placeholder before the real name is finalized)–in exchange for preferred shares representing a 17.6 percent stake. That gives the newly-formed unit an approximate valuation of $1.7 billion (with BN’s share valued at $1.4 billion) — far more than […]