In an indication of the extent to which digital publishing can empower new entrants from other parts of the media world, NBC News announced today that it is forming NBC Publishing. Based in New York, the unit is run by general manager Michael Fabiano, and they have hired Brian Perrin (who was at Rodale) as director of digital development, and Peter Costanzo (who was at F+W Media) as creative director. Fabiano reports to svp of NBC News Cheryl Gould, who is the “executive in charge” of NBC Publishing. She says in the announcement “this business enables NBC to use video, […]
New Business Models
Penguin Cancels Kindle Library Lending, For Now–Will Others Follow?
Overdrive announced Monday that Penguin “instructed” them to “disable ‘Get for Kindle’ functionality for all Penguin ebooks” that Overdrive supplies to libraries, in what the service calls an “abrupt change.” Penguin also told OverDrive “it is reviewing terms for library lending of their ebooks” and has suspended availability to libraries for the new ebook releases. Kindle users first started reporting the disappearance of Penguin titles from participating libraries on Saturday. Penguin’s own statement was more coy than OverDrive’s, insisting that “due to new concerns about the security of our digital editions, we find it necessary to delay the availability of […]
Barnes & Noble Offers Exclusive Patterson Holiday Novella Promotion In Stores; Can Bundle Print and eBooks Through Store Cash Registers
Barnes & Noble has secured a significant in-store “exclusive” for the holidays: a novella from James Patterson, MERRY CHRISTMAS, ALEX CROSS. The bookseller will give a free copy–either printed, or digital–to customers who buy Patterson’s just-released KILL ALEX CROSS in hardcover and one other Patterson title in any format from a Barnes & Noble Store. Perhaps as important as the exclusive offer, designed to help drive store traffic, is that Barnes & Noble says they have developed a “cashiering system [that] will allow retail customers to seamlessly combine a Nook Book purchase with the purchase of the new hardcover title […]
Agents Express Concern Over Kindle Lending Library
As we reported yesterday afternoon, many of the trade publishers with books included in Amazon’s new Kindle Lending Library did not consent to that participation and therefore had neither notified nor consulted with agents in advance about the program and its terms. (At least some of those companies specifically declined Amazon’s earlier offer to participate.) The Association of Authors’ Representatives has issued a statement on the new initiative: “The agent and author community have not been consulted about this new sort of use of authors’ copyrighted material, and are unaware of how publishers plan on compensating authors for this sort […]
Dzanc Aims to rEprint Over 500 Literary Titles Over the Next Year
Independent non-profit publisher Dzanc Books is another player gearing up to publish a significant line of classic and backlist works in ebook form. Deal-watchers will have noticed that the publisher has been listing some of those acquisition recently in our deal reports, but publisher Dan Wickett says the scope of the project is far larger than the reports would indicate. Dzanc’s rEprint series has “well over a hundred titles contracted for and in-process” with deals in process for a hundred more, and a goal of reissuing more than 500 literary titles “over the course of the next year.” Originated by […]
eNews: Anobii Prepares to Sell eBooks; Freethy Sells 1 Million Self-Published Books; and More
UK-based social book recommendation site Anobii announced that as part of their coming relaunch, they have reached agreements to sell ebooks from more than 10 publishers, including the UK divisions of Penguin, Random House, Harper Collins, Hachette, Bloomsbury, Harlequin and Wiley, along with Pan Macmillan, Faber & Faber and Canongate. Digital editions will be available for sale as of the end of October, with print books to follow at a later date. get them instantly on their free Anobii ebook apps. They will have Anobii iOS reading apps at launch, and plan to add Android apps “shortly.” Their cloud-based service […]