The panel on territorial rights issues, Will Territorial Sales Become Obsolete?, moderated by Janklow & Nesbit rights director Cullen Stanley, showed some small shifts in thinking about English-language international sales. The always entertaining Andrew Franklin, president of Profile Books, got a laugh by pointing out that the structure of today’s contracts goes back to 1947: “The British had lost their empire, they kept everything that had been their empire and gave the US the rest. It has to go. The open market is absolutely a legacy of the physical book and it has to go.” Asked if he would prefer […]
Data Day at DBW
The second day of Digital Book World began with a block of three data presentations on consumer habits with respect to ebook purchases and ereading devices. (To be clear, we have cheated: since 92 percent of conference attendees and reporters find big presentations of data hard to take in, and take down, on the fly, the three presenters let us look over their slides in advance, which is the basis of this report.) Verso Digital conducted a new survey of book acquisition habits, this time looking at both purchasing and borrowing together–in print, digital and a mixture of the two–in […]
Indie Bookstores Stay Optimistic in These Digital Times
It was, as expressed in the Q&A session, “a refreshingly upbeat and optimistic panel.” And indeed, the stereotypical gripes and whines that are too often associated with independent bookstores, for legitimate and not-so-legitimate reasons, were not really in evidence Tuesday afternoon. That isn’t to say this was a complaint-free session, as WORD Bookstore’s Stephanie Anderson, Andy Laties of the Eric Carle Museum Bookstore, and Nicole Magistro of The Bookstore of Edwards were pointed in what frustrations they have with publishers, most notably the reluctance to move to more efficient billing practices and the price disparity on non-agency e-books.) Shelf Awareness […]
DBW Kicks Off With Innovation Awards, 7x20x21
A packed crowd (helped, no doubt, by the drink-ticketed cocktails on tap for the first hour) turned out at the Sheraton Towers ballroom for Digital Book World’s opening ceremonies & reception. After brief remarks from F+W ceo David Nussbaum and a short speech from Harper Collins president of sales Josh Marwell on behalf of the Goddard Riverside Community Center, F+W president David Blansfield hosted DBW’s first ever Publishing Innovation Awards: Fiction: DRACULA: The Official Stoker Family Edition (PadWorx Digital Media) Non-Fiction: Logos Bible Software (Logos Bible Software, Inc.) Children’s: A Story Before Bed (Jackson Fish Market) Reference: Star Walk for […]
With Sale of Day by Day Kiosks to Calendar Club, Borders Raises Some Cash
It remains to be seen whether publishers will accept Borders’ proposed plans for renegotiating credit arrangements by the reported February 1 deadline, but the retailer will get at least some cash from the sale of its seasonal calendar kiosk service, Day By Day Calendars, to competitor Calendar Club LLC. The purchase, under negotiation for some time, closed last Wednesday and was announced to Borders staff on Friday by CEO Mike Edwards. In a telephone interview, Calendar Club CEO Marc Winkelman said the deal has been in the works since the fall, when Borders approached Calendar Club along with other prospective […]
People, Etc.
Lynne Missen will join Penguin Canada as publishing director of children’s books on January 31. She has been executive editor at Harper Canada Children’s. Pamela Paul has been named children’s book editor for the New York Times Book Review, starting today. She is a journalist and book critic, the author of three nonfiction books, and is a columnist for the NYT‘s Style section. Her new position with the NYTBR is part-time. Pamela Clements has joined the United Methodist Publishing House as associate publisher for Abingdon Press’s Christian fiction program, and a new Christian Living line that debut in the spring of 2012, […]