Publishers Lunch will be specially prepared for your consumption by Sarah Weinman (@sarahw) from today through Friday, August 28, inclusive. Please direct all tips, announcements, articles and complaints to Lunch’s temporary inbox at marketplacetips@gmail.com.
News of Google: Support for Creative Commons Licenses, Opposition from National Writers Union
Google Books announced on their Inside Google Books blog that they will allow up to seven different types of Creative Commons licenses to be attributed to titles included in the program, Books that rightsholders have made available under a CC license will be marked with a matching logo on the book’s left hand navigation bar. In return, “people who download these books agree to use the work only in ways specified by the license, like giving proper credit to the author on any remixes or further public distributions.”Google Books Blog Meanwhile the newest group to oppose the settlement is the […]
Cengage Learning will Rent College Textbooks Directly to Students
Cengage Learning announced Thursday that it would start renting books to students this year, at 40 percent to 70 percent of the suggested retail price. The NYT reports that students using Cengage’s rental option “will get immediate access to the first chapter of the book electronically, in e-book format, and will have a choice of shipping options for the printed book.” Once the rental term (60, 90 or 130 days) expires, students have the option to buy the textbook or return it. Several hundred titles will be offered initially in December, with more to follow next July. “The Internet has […]
People
Elizabeth Mason has been promoted to Senior Publicist in the S&S publicity department. Prior to joining S&S in 2007 as a publicist, she worked at Public Affairs, Routledge Publishers, and National Geographic Society. Mandy Ferguson will take over as managing director of Harlequin Mills & Boon, effective September 1, replacing Guy Hallowes, who will retire after 20 years with the company. Previously she was managing director of Ryvita.
Auditors Raise Doubts on Borders UK's Future
According to accounts filed with Companies House, auditors of Borders UK, sold to Hilco by Luke Johnson and Risk Capital Partners earlier this summer, raised doubts about the ability of the book retailer to continue as a going concern, the FT reports. Ernst & Young, which signed off on the accounts going back to February 2, 2008 on July 31, said Borders UK “faced a number of uncertainties, including that it operated in a highly competitive sector, and the sales performance was difficult to forecast.” A significant quarterly rent cost, ongoing support needed from publishers and availability of credit insurance […]
Digital Friday: Free Ebooks as Trend; Harvard Business Review on Amazon vs. B&N; and More
The AP reports on publishers going out of their way to offer free e-books from established authors’ backlist in order to tempt buyers on frontlist items, even as they are quick to label such moves as an opportunity to experiment with pricing issues still a thorny topic. The top three Kindle bestsellers in recent days are James Patterson’s THE ANGEL EXPERIMENT, Joseph Finder’s PARANOIA and Greg Keyes’ THE BRIAR KING – all free, all available a few years earlier. “I like the notion of introducing people to one book, while promoting the sales of another,” Patterson said, adding that “thousands […]