The week begins with the closing of two UK-based digital companies. Blinkbox Books, Tesco’s ebook service, will cease operations by the end of February after failing to find a buyer. The company said, “We’ve learnt a lot since launching the service and whilst we saw encouraging levels of take up, we believe that we can do more for our customers by focusing on our core business….Our focus now is on the colleagues affected and our customers.” Up to 60 jobs are in jeopardy as a result. Tesco was reported to have been in exclusive talks with Waterstones a possible sale of the platform. Tesco […]
Audio
Recorded Books Acquires Tantor Media
Recorded Books has acquired audio publisher Tantor Media, with a catalog of approximately 5,000 titles. Sale terms were not officially disclosed but the NYT reports the price was “about $25 million.” Private equity firm Wasserstein & Co. acquired Recorded Books from Haights Cross Communications a little less than a year ago, and then they bought HighBridge Audio from Workman Publishing in April, which was integrated into Recorded Books. Wasserstein co-managing partner Anup Bagaria tells the NYT, “We’ve taken a sleepy business and really accelerated growth” through acquisitions and organic improvements. Tantor will continue to operate out of its current Old Saybrook, CT facility. Jones Day […]
Corporate: Opening Sales of Over 1 Million for Wimpy Kid, and PRH Launches Audio App
Abrams reports another strong opening week of sales for the latest Jeff Kinney book, DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: THE LONG HAUL. CEO Michael Jacobs says in the release sales “out of the gate have been exceptional and are accelerating briskly. Already more than 1 million copies have sold in the first seven days. He adds, “Our strategy of releasing the new book simultaneously in all the English language territories has shown the global power of Jeff’s books. With eight more countries set to publish The Long Haul before the end of the year, we’re confident that Diary of a […]
Scribd Adds Audiobooks to Their Subscription Plan
Scribd substantially expanded their subscription reading service on Thursday morning, adding a collection of more than 30,000 audiobooks titles, available for unlimited streaming and downloading as a part of their regular $8.99 subscription service, alongside the ebooks they have offered since October 2013. In contrast to the ebooks, which are mostly backlist titles, the audiobook catalog includes frontlist titles as well from many of the participating publishers. The biggest named participants are HarperCollins and also Scholastic from the trade publishing side (so the Hunger Games trilogy is there), as well as Blackstone Audio and Naxos. The audio collection is supplied […]
Amazon Acquires Audio Content Producer Rooftop Media for Audible
Amazon has acquired Rooftop Media, a ten-person company that records comedians in performance and licenses digital rights to thousands of hours of broadcast and recorded comedy, Reuters reports. (The acquisition was not announced by the company itself.) Rooftop will become part of Audible.com, which Rooftop ceo Will Rogers says “is obsessed with producing incredible programming.” Audible ceo Don Katz said in a statement, “Audible Studios has been conceiving and producing original content in mystery, science fiction and other genres for years…. With Rooftop’s rich comedic offerings and vast pool of comedy talent, we foresee an even more exciting selection of original spoken-word […]
People, Etc.
Camille McDuffie is leaving her position as president of Goldberg McDuffie Communications to join the newly-created Columbia Global Reports as publisher, under director Nicholas Lemann. It’s a Columbia University-based publishing project “dedicated to the production of sustained, original reporting and analysis on under-reported global issues for audiences that extend beyond the academy,” and they will produce four to six short books a year, for publication beginning in fall 2015. Also joining the unit as editor is Jimmy So, who was a culture and books editor at The Daily Beast. At William Morrow, Jessica Williams has been promoted to editor. Heather Alexander […]