Smashwords ceo Mark Coker told Forbes that the company expects to double their gross revenues in 2012, to $12 million. They keep roughly 15 percent of that gross, and the company expects pre-tax profit “approaching $1 million.” Coker indicates that romance novels and erotica comprise nearly 40 percent of sales. This week Faber & Faber launched a six-title series, Faber Forty-Fives, of ebook-only extracts priced at £1.99 taken from books on the publisher’s Pop list by Simon Reynolds, Rob Chapman, Nick Kent, and others. Editor Dave Watkins said on Faber’s blog the publisher had been “toying with the idea for a […]
Financing/Start-Ups
eNews: Hachette Testing Pilot Library eBook Programs with Two Distributors; The Atavist Will Launch Free Content Tool; and More
Hachette is set to test pilot ebook library programs with two unnamed distributors sometime this spring, according to the ALA, which met with the publisher last week. Hachette discontinued the sale of new ebooks to libraries back in April 2010 (though backlist titles remained on offer) and the ALA believes “these pilot programs will help HBG learn more about library patrons’ interests, usage, and expectations, and help the publisher devise the best strategy to reach the widest audience of ebook readers in libraries.” The Atavist will produce a free version of its online content platform this summer, the NYT reports, […]
Christian Literary Agency Alive Communications Launches ePublishing Company, Bondfire
Leading literary agency for Christian and inspirational books Alive Communications has announced a separate “sister” epublishing enterprise, Bondfire Books. In the vein of Diversion Books (Scott Waxman), Bedford Square Books (Ed Victor), Paperless Publishing (Objective Entertainment), and Rosetta Books (Arthur Klebanoff), Bondfire is a standalone epublishing company. Following the model of other epublishing start-ups, founder Rick Christian says in the announcement they are paying “a 50 percent net royalty” and “five-year renewable terms.” (Other formal enterprises involving literary agencies include Pan Macmillan’s Bello in the UK, a revival line which launched in partnership with Curtis Brown UK, and the back-in-print […]
People, Etc.
Liz Egan has joined Amazon Publishing’s New York imprint as senior editor, focusing on fiction, memoir, and parenting. Previously she was the books editor at Self magazine for seven years. Tattered Cover manager of operations Neil Strandberg is joining the ABA’s staff in the new position of director of member technology. Relocating to New York, he starts on May 7. Eric Brandt has joined Yale University Press as senior editor, Humanities. He was most recently senior editor at Harper One. At Random House Children’s, Dominique Cimina was named director of publicity and corporate communications; Casey Lloyd and Elizabeth Zajac have both moved up to […]
BN Puts Nook and College Business Into New Subsidiary, With Microsoft Investing $300 Million
The future of both Barnes & Noble and the digital reading business took new shape Monday morning as the bookseller announced the creation of a new subsidiary, into which they have transferred all of the Nook and BN College units (comprising “their digital device, digital content and college bookstore businesses.”) Microsoft is investing $300 million in that subsidiary–called simply NewCo for now (a standard corporate placeholder before the real name is finalized)–in exchange for preferred shares representing a 17.6 percent stake. That gives the newly-formed unit an approximate valuation of $1.7 billion (with BN’s share valued at $1.4 billion) — far more than […]
Digital News: More Languages for Potter; Harris Turns Packager; and More
As promised, Pottermore has placed on sale French, Italian, Spanish and German editions of the Harry Potter ebooks. Former book-to-film agent Nick Harris, who left ICM recently, is starting a new company with funding from his brother-in-law Jason Traub. In the vein of Alloy Entertainment and Full Fathom Five, The Story Foundation will create books in the packager model–saying they will split proceeds 50/50 “most of the time” with authors–and aims to develop those books as film/TV projects and for “other multi-platform opportunities.” Harris tells Deadline he is already worked on five projects, based on his own ideas. “After parting […]