Haights Cross Communications has sold Recorded Books to private equity fund Wasserstein & Co., with Northwestern Mutual and Lexington Partners also contributing investment capital, and financing from BNP Paribas. The company’s primary market is unabridged audiobooks for libraries, schools and the retail market, but they also distribute 100,000 ebooks through their One-Click Digital Platform. Recorded Books ceo Rich Freese says in the announcement, “This strategic partnership provides us with the resources to further broaden our content offerings and services for customers, and accelerate our growth into additional global markets.” HCC used to report publicly until they filed, and emerged from, a […]
Audio
Amazon Acquires AudioGo’s UK Catalog; Kindle Paperwhite Rumors; and More
Amazon has a licensing deal to publish the UK back catalog of bankrupt audiobook publisher AudioGo, according to the Sunday Times. The deal gives Amazon (which owns Audible) access to at least 5,000 titles from the company previously known as BBC Audiobooks. In Amazon rumor news, TechCrunch says the company’s next Kindle Paperwhite will be sold in the second quarter of 2014 and will include a high-resolution 300 ppi screen, custom typography, and an ambient light sensor. A new BBC documentary set to air Monday evening provides a behind-the-scenes look at the working conditions of one of Amazon’s UK-based warehouses, […]
Briefs: AudioGo Suspends Operations Pending Sale; Inkling Acquires OpenAir
UK-based audiobook publisher AudioGo has suspended operations and is looking for an investment or outright sale, the company’s head of sales and marketing Rachel Josephson confirmed to the the Bookseller. She added: “There is a considerable amount of interest in AudioGO and we are hopeful of achieving a swift resolution. Protecting and respecting the rights of everyone that we work with is uppermost in our considerations and we are grateful for the fantastic support we have received from our colleagues throughout the industry.” The company recently sold its US-based arm Blackstone Audio back to its founders, just ten months after […]
People, Etc.
Sarah Harrison Smith has been named children’s editor at the New York Times Book Review. She was most recently on the paper’s metropolitan desk. Scholastic unveiled the new cover designed by Kazu Kubuishi for HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS, which will be published on August 27 (along with the other redesigned books in the series) at BEA Thursday morning. At the Audiobook Publishers Association’s Audie Awards ceremony last night at the New-York Historical Society, Graham Greene’s The End of the Affair (read by Colin Firth, Audible) was named named Audiobook of the Year and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (multi-voiced […]
Briefs: A Cover of Inferno; Audible Updates iOS Apps; Anthology to Close
Doubleday unveiled the cover of Dan Brown‘s May 14 release Inferno on the Today Show this morning. ‘”Inferno takes place in Italy and was inspired by Dante’s iconic 14th century poem of the same name. The cover features a portrait of Dante against the city of Florence, as well as Dante’s famous nine rings of hell.” Apparently Audible has not had a dedicated app for Apple’s iPad line, even though “more than 20 percent of Audible customers already use Audible’s iPhone app on the iPad. They have addressed that with the release of a new app optimized for iPads, and […]
Bresnick To Take Over for Weil; Blackstone Sold to AudioGO
Paul Bresnick of the Paul Bresnick Agency has a deal in principle to assume control of the Wendy Weil Agency on behalf of the late agent’s estate, he wrote to clients, “to ensure that Wendy’s clients will continue to be represented with the highest professional standards for which the agency has earned its sterling reputation.” Bresnick has started informing authors while the details are finalized “so that there will be no break in the service you’ve come to expect from the agency and your best interests will continue to be protected,” he wrote in a letter shown to us. He […]