The theme of today’s enews reports is clear: a variety of initiatives to get more material into digital form in a variety of ways: Two multi-volume deals with Audible were announced yesterday. Digital publisher Diversion Books will see “the majority” of their backlist and new titles going forward turned into audiobooks, available on Audible starting this winter. Diversion says they are publishing 100 titles a year. Separately, Audible is also working with UK literary agency AP Watt to produce audiobook versions of the backlists of seven well-known authors: Somerset Maugham, Nevil Shute, Robert Graves, Rafael Sabatini, P M Hubbard, Ronald […]
eNews
People, Awards, Etc.
At Abrams, publisher Steve Tager takes on the new role of chief marketing and business development officer, focused on driving new business initiatives, including exploiting company’s digital assets. The marketing and publicity departments will also report to him. Deborah Aaronson takes over as vp, publisher for the adult trade group. She has been with the company since 2000. Elisa Urbanelli returns to the company as associate publisher for the adult group, also acquiring in categories including art and museum publications. She was previously a managing editor for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and most recently was a freelance […]
Amazon Cites “Technical Issue” for Kindle Buy Buttons That Disappeared–and Returned–Overnight
Late Thursday evening Amazon customers began to notice that buy buttons for Kindle books published by agency model publishers Random House, Penguin, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster and Hachette had disappeared, with Harper buy buttons dropping off after a twenty-minute interval. The deactivation was limited to the six agency model publishers, and affected Amazon’s US store only. At 1:28 AM Friday, an Amazon spokesperson told us and other outlets “the Kindle Store is experiencing a technical issue. We’re working to correct it.” A different spokesperson wrote back at 7 AM Friday to say “the issue had been fixed.” It remains unclear […]
Under Fire For Business Model Change, Flat World Says “After Analyzing Our Fall Results, It Was Necessary”
Flat World Knowledge vp Michael Boezi posted a letter to customers about their recent decision to abandon free browser-based access to their textbooks. They write: “As we struggled with the decision, we realized the timing would be an issue for instructors who had made their spring book selections based on free access. We understand your disappointment and frustration. But after analyzing our fall results, it was necessary to implement the change effective January 1, 2013.” He says their “business is viable and growing” though the previous statement makes it sound like they are under some stress, and adds “we stubbornly […]
Popular Accounts of Pending EC Agency Settlement Lose Sight of Primary Effect–Which Is the UK Only
In another bit of clean-up, yesterday’s Reuters report–which simply reaffirmed that the mid-September offer from Apple, Hachette, Harper, Macmillan and Simon & Schuster to settle the European Commission investigation into the introduction of agency ebook pricing on terms very similar to the Department of Justice settlement in the US is likely to be approved–has added to the misunderstanding rather than clarified it. Reuters declares “that decision would hand online retailer Amazon a victory in its attempt to sell e-books cheaper than rivals,” which is echoed and expanded on in other press accounts. What’s missing is the understanding and acknowledgement that […]
Donnelley Will Take Over All US Warehousing for HarperCollins
HarperCollins is further expanding their supply chain agreement with RR Donnelley to rely on the printer for all warehousing and order shipping in the US as of summer 2013, from a “centrally located Donnelley distribution facility. Harper will close Thomas Nelson’s Nashville, TN warehouse (as they did with Zondervan’s warehouse in June) and will no longer use their Scranton, PA distribution center to ship reorders. As of early 2012, Harper had moved the shipment of all new releases to a Donnelley facility. The publisher will still manage customer service, credit, collection, IT, and freight services from Scranton. They declined to […]