Kobo’s evp of business development Todd Humphrey reiterates to Publishing Perspectives that both Brazil and Japan are “likely” markets for the ebook company in 2012, among “ten plus countries” Kobo has in their sights for 2012. Indeed ceo Michael Serbinis said late last year when the Rakuten purchase was announced that, “We expect to be in Japan early into the new year; we expect to be in Brazil next year and this is all possible now. We did a handful of countries this year and we’ll do a couple dozen next year.” But Kobo said last April that they expected […]
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Betsy Mitchell will work for Open Road as strategic advisor for sci-fi and fantasy, and will “spearhead” their acquisition and publishing of backlist sci-fi and fantasy titles. Mitchell retired from her position as editor-in-chief at Ballantine Bantam Dell’s Del Rey Spectra in December. She started her own editorial services company. At Norton, Alane Mason has been promoted to vp, executive editor. She has been an editor for the company since 1999. Barnaby Dawe, marketing communications director at News International, is moving over to corporate sibling Harper UK, in the new position of chief marketing officer. He will report to Victoria […]
Executives Now Doubt that Digital Will Improve Their Corporate Prospects
Among the multiple presentations of original research at Digital Book World later this month, James McQuivey from Forrester Research will present a new version of the survey they conducted a year ago to assess publishing executives’ expectations on the digital transition. This year’s results (from publishers said to represent three-quarters of US publishing revenues) show a distinct ebb in digital optimism. In one of the biggest shifts, only 28 percent of publishing executives now think their own companies will be better off because of the transition to digital, versus 51 percent a year ago. McQuivey’s presentation at DBW will address […]
eNews: Amazon Trumpets Kindle Owners Lending Library; Plagiarized Titles Plague Kindle Store; and More
Amazon is delighted to declare “strong customer adoption” of the Kindle Owners Lending Library and oodles of money for participating Kindle Select (e.g. Kindle-exclusive) self-published authors. Interestingly, however, the extra money that Amazon claims participants received–“an incremental 26 percent in December”–is roughly equal to the proclaimed market share of No. 2 ebook player Nook, where Select authors and publishers can no longer sell. Which begs the question of whether participants are actually making more money in toto. Even the top 10 authors–whom Amazon says earned over $70,000–only got a 30 percent boost over their ebook sales with their lending library […]
Nancy Pearl Partners With Amazon For ‘Book Lust Rediscoveries’ Series
Amazon announced Wednesday morning that noted former librarian and frequent NPR contributor Nancy Pearl will launch a new curated line under the Book Lust Rediscoveries banner, reissuing out-of-print books originally published between 1960 and 2000 that Pearl had previously recommended in her title Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment and Reason. Part of the Amazon Encore imprint, the series will republish up to six titles a year in digital, paperback and audiobook editions starting in April with Merle Miller’s A GAY AND MELANCHOLY SOUND (originally published in 1961) and then in June with Rhian Ellis’s AFTER LIFE (originally […]
E Ink Sales Drop Far More Than Expected; Kickstarter Funds Over $5 Million of Publishing
E Ink Holdings surprised Asian stock markets Monday with worse-than-expected December sales, with the company’s shares dropping the maximum allowed in a single day. December sales declined 55 percent from the prior month, and were down 57 percent compared to December 2010. November’s sales were 33 percent lower than October, but chairman Scott Liu indicated that all of their holiday orders had been shipped early “in response to customer demands,” with “a portion of November orders [going out] in October, which contributed to the fact that November sales revenues were lower than earlier expectations. But December’s sales were far below […]