After soft-launch in Holland late last year, Kobo’s will formally roll out their ebookstore there on January 30 with “thousands of Dutch titles,” while Dutch retailer Libris Blz will sell the Kobo Touch for €129. “Through our new partnership with Libris Blz, we’re confident our expansion into the Netherlands will be a huge success,” Kobo ceo Michael Serbinis said in a statement. “Kobo’s focus has always been to bring e-reading and e-books to people everywhere around the world. By launching in the Netherlands, and bringing e-reading to the passionate Dutch reading community — we are one more country closer to […]
People, Etc.
Knopf evp, executive director of publicity, promotion and media relations Paul Bogaards penned the most talked about online item of the day, a Top 100 “Hierarchy of Book Publishing” with the same spirit as some of his inimitable Twitter posts. Bogaards told us by e-mail, “Consider the post a Valentine to our industry, which I love, and honestly, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.” Random House, S&S, Nosy Crow, and Robot Media were among the winners of the 2nd annual Publishing Innovation Awards, announced Monday night as part of the opening of Digital Book World. Full List At Harper UK, group […]
PLC: Understanding the Children’s Digital Book Market
As part of our Children’s Publishing Goes Digital Conference, Bowker vp publishing services Kelly Gallagher presented new data on the state of the children’s digital book market and signs of increasing digital adoption.The survey of 2,000 parents & guardians of children ages 0-12 and 1,000 teens aged 13-17 was largely conducted in between October 7 and November 2, 2011, before the release of the Kindle Fire, the Nook Tablet, and the Kobo Vox, but additional data was fielded “as recently as last week,” taking into account the likely significant impact those devices have had on the children’s digital market. While […]
eNews: Pew Says Device Ownership Doubled Over Holidays; Kindle Is UK’s Most Unused Present; And More
Two separate surveys of more than 2000 Americans conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project in December and January found that the share of adults who owned tablet computers increased to 19 percent from 10 percent, with the same increase for adults who owned e-readers. (Women bought ereaders more than men, with the reverse being true for tablets.) In addition, the number of Americans owning at least one device, either a tablet or an e-reader, rose from 18 percent in December to 29 percent in January. The jump was particularly significant according to Pew because ownership of tablets […]
Bookselling: Idlewild Adds Brooklyn Store; BYU Bookstore Lays Off 29; And More
Idlewild Books, the four-year-old travel guide and literature store that opened on 18th Street in Manhattan, has now added a second location (in Brooklyn’s Cobble Hill neighborhood) which will concentrate on foreign-language books, and specifically literature in French, Spanish, and Italian. “We love the neighborhood–with its strong Italian roots and growing reputation as New York’s Little France–and our neighbors have already made us feel welcome,” the store wrote in an e-mail to customers. 25 full-time employees and 4 part-timers were laid off from the Brigham Young University Bookstore on Friday. “As with bookstores across the country, in recent years, the […]
Awards: Newbery and Caldecott Winners; NBCC Award Nominees; and More
The ALA presented their many Youth Media Awards this morning on the closing day of their winter meeting in Denver. (Thanks to the organizers for the live webcast of this year’s presentation.) The Newbery medal went to DEAD END IN NORVELT, by Jack Gantos (FSG); the Caldecott went to A BALL FOR DAISY, illustrated and written by Chris Raschka (Schwartz & Wade). Among other honorees, John Corey Whaley won the YA Michael L. Printz Award for WHERE THINGS COME BACK (Atheneum) and Susan Cooper won the Margaret A. Edwards Award for “significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature.” For the complete list of medalists […]