Sourcebooks launches their latest experiment today, a subscription plan for romance readers the company is positioning as an ebook club and community. Discover A New Love offers subscribers one of four featured romance titles a month, at $9.99 for a six-month plan (so about $1.67 per book). Members can purchase additional titles at discount, and some club selections are available a month before general release. While the initial hook is value, Sourcebooks sees the long-term appeal as discovery and community. Editorial manager Deb Werksman says in the announcement, “Readers have a hard time figuring out what they should try next. […]
New Business Models
People, Etc.
Editorial director of Book Business and Publishing Executive magazines Noelle Skodzinski has left the company, publisher Matt Steinmetz confirms to DBW. Palgrave Macmillan is launching a new imprint, Palgrave Pivot, that will blend journal and digital-short publishing models. At an average of 100 pages, they will publish works of a length “between the journal article and the conventional monograph” and “undertake to publish within 3 months of acceptance after full peer review.” The focus is on “new important research, or are a review of an area with broad appeal.” Publishing both digitally and on demand, they will sell titles individually as well as in […]
Penguin Withdraws From Overdrive; Looks For New Library Partners
Penguin announced late Thursday that as of February 10 (today) it “will no longer offer additional copies of ebooks and audiobooks for purchase via Overdrive” and is severing their ongoing relationship with the vendor. Libraries will continue to have access to titles they have already purchased, and Penguin is negotiating a “continuance agreement” with Overdrive to service the products that have already been sold. The move is an outgrowth of the publisher’s suspension of sales of new titles to libraries in late November. At the time they said that “due to new concerns about the security of our digital editions, we […]
eNews: Penguin Launches Mobile Platform; Self-Publishing Capabilities From Nelson Literary Agency
Penguin has launched a new digital/mobile toolkit, My Artist’s Way Toolkit & App, based on Julia Cameron’s 2 million copy-selling 1992 book The Artist’s Way. The platform, which will be offered as a $4.99 monthly subscription (or $3.99 a month for those who sign up for a one-year plan) with daily inspirations and weekly exercises and activities. Global digital director Molly Barton said in a statement that the platform is one “that we anticipate using for future Penguin works.” Add the Nelson Literary Agency to the list of agencies establishing ways to help their clients self-publish. Their Digital Liason Platform, […]
eNews: Sesame Workshop eBooks From Random House; Piatkus’s Digital Romance Imprint; and More
Random House and Sesame Workshop launched a new digital publishing initiative this week with a number of ebooks focusing on early reading and readiness. Elmo Says Achoo! and Elmo’s Breakfast Bingo are the first titles on sale, with an additional 19 titles available this Spring. “With this program, Random House and Sesame Workshop are expanding our long-standing partnership of more than four decades and extending our shared commitment to children’s literacy and enriching children’s early learning experiences to a new platform,” vp, publisher Random House/Golden Books Young Readers Group Kate Klimo said in a statement. Release On Valentine’s Day Piatkus […]
DBW: Talking Around the Edges of Libraries and eBooks
The dialogue between publishers and libraries over the potential for ebook lending continued at DBW on Wednesday. In the panel Discovery and Libraries in an Age of Few Bookstores, librarians and their allies talked up the library as a place for publishers to make direct connections to readers, and the value of readers’ advisory, the librarian as a human discovery engine. Random House director of account marketing Ruth Liebmann said Random House, the only big six house that provides library ebook lending without limitations, is now telling the audio reps they send to libraries to talk about other formats as […]