Once the inevitable if obligatory reminder from IDPF organizers Monday at their annual conference that there would be no talk of anything related to agency pricing or the Department of Justice investigation was dispensed with, Bloomsbury ceo Richard Charkin, Open Road ceo Jane Friedman, and Random House president of sales and digital operations Madeline McIntosh engaged in a spirited discussion of how a publisher sells direct, their attitudes on DRM, and other digital publishing matters. In terms of how important is it for publishers to nurture direct relationships with readers on a going-forward basis, McIntosh said that at Random House, […]
BEA12
AerBook Launches Simple In-Browser Platform to Build eBooks and Apps with Visual Content, and Much More From Publishers Launch
At Monday’s Publishers Launch BEA Conference, in the Publishers Launchpad segment highlighting interesting start-ups, Ron Martinez debuted his company’s Aerbook Maker and Aerbook Cloud Publishing product. They promise to enable the creation and publishing of graphical ebooks and native apps, made right in the browser through drag-and-drop, without any code writing. Martinez said up until now “the cost and complexity has literally made whole categories have to sit out the party,” and Aerbook’s product is designed to make it affordable for publishers to adapt children’s, how-to, travel, educational, photography, or any other graphical content for ebooks and apps all at […]
Upcoming: Deals for Carly Simon, Dolly Parton, Cissy Houston, Biz Stone
BEA is just a few hours old — and the show floor won’t even open until Tuesday — but for now some of the biggest announcements are in the deals department. Random House Publishing Group has acquired Carly Simon‘s autobiography, which will cover “the discovery of her life-altering stammer, her meteoric rise and unparalleled career in music, and her loves, including her marriage to James Taylor, with Simon saying “after years of keeping journals and writing lyrics for my tunes, I have developed a strong interest in seeing how my life might just string together in a longer form.” In […]
More Buzz: The BEA Fall Books Preview
Included in the trade edition of our BEA Buzz Books ebook sampler is a comprehensive preview of more than 100 additional fall titles of note–many of which will be promoted at BEA next week– as a means of surveying the season in a more comprehensive manner. We selected what we think are among the most noteworthy literary, commercial, and breakout titles for adults and children, broken down into key categories. For the full 4,000-word article, download your free ebook now and see the introductory piece. The early part of the fall season is a lot more crowded than the back […]
The Publishers Lunch BEA 2012 Party Planner
In keeping with our tradition, here is an overview of the known BEA after-hours celebrants and events so far. If your event is not listed, that means you didn’t let us know–send an e-mail and we’ll update as appropriate. You can see that Tuesday is shaping up as BEA’s Big Night. As usual, this is a guide to what’s happening rather than a crasher’s manual; many of these events are invitation and RSVP, often in strictly limited numbers, though others are open. Congratulations and best wishes to all for successful gatherings. Monday Algonquin Hotel Grand Reopening and a New Literary […]
The “Big Book” of BEA
As the AP covered this morning, Publishers Lunch has launched what is truly the “big book” of this year’s BEA: a free ebook that presents over 30 meaty excerpts from books that will be featured at the convention and highly-touted fall releases of all kinds. Before you see (or watch the video stream) of BEA marquee speakers Junot Diaz, Barbara Kingsolver, JR Moehringer and Neil Young, you can read samples from their books. We have official Buzz Panel book Shani Boianjiu’s The People of Forever Are Not Afraid, along with more promising debut novelists than fit on any panel (including […]