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. […]
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At Artisan Books, Allison McGeehon has been promoted to director of publicity and marketing. At Holt, Melanie DeNardo has been promoted to associate director of publicity, reporting to Pat Eisemann. Former coo of Open Road Integrated Media Chris Lederer has joined AlixPartners as a director in its media practice division. Elly Weisenberg Kelly has joined independent book publicity firm JKSCommunications. She was most recently publicity manager at Grand Central. After a lengthy investigation, the Montana Attorney General concluded that author Greg Mortenson mismanaged the charity he established and helped to run, the Central Asia Institute, and found that he personally profited […]
New Pew Research Study Demonstrates eBook Consumers Buy More Books And Read More, Too
Pew Research’s latest e-reading survey, released yesterday, confirmed and added more context on various trends among those who read electronically. Of the nearly 3,000 adults surveyed between November and December 2011 (with two follow-up surveys in January and February 2012) a little more than one-fifth of American adults (or 21 percent) reported that they have read an e-book in the past year. That number, arrived at in February, increased from 17 percent as reported in December 2011, the spike attributed to holiday gift-giving. The average number of digital books read in a year was 24 among those surveyed, compared with […]
Google Cancels eBooks Reseller Program, Dropping Indies
Both the ABA and Powell’s Books indicate Google informed them on Tuesday it is cancelling their eBooks reseller partnerships as of January 31, 2013. ABA ceo Oren Teicher told members in an email, “Google’s decision to discontinue the program is, therefore, far larger than just IndieCommerce and the users of our product. After January 31, 2013, Google will sell e-books through Google Play only.” Google says on their blog that “the reseller program has not gained the traction that we hoped it would, so we have made the difficult decision to discontinue it.” Whether that’s a statement about the resellers […]
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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 […]
Early Results from Pottermore, Or Less
Pottermore executive Charlie Redmayne told Radio Litopia that in the first three days after launching on March 27, JK Rowling’s web site sold over £1 million worth of ebooks. And he proclaimed, as you would expect according to script, that initial sales were higher than expectations. “We had budgeted for a much lower figure,” Redmayne insists, noting that sales have softened since the splash debut. “It is still running at a much higher rate than I was anticipating, even for the launch. It is still surpassing anything I’ve ever seen for e-book sales.” Given the years of pent-up demand and […]