With Barnes & Noble‘s new ereader announcement set for 10:00 on Tuesday, May 24, CNet has researched some of the company’s recent trademark filings (which are made through Fission LLC) for clues. They filed to protect the phrase “the simple touch reader” at the end of March in the category of “portable electronic apparatus for reading”–which CNet logically says “we take as a strong indication that the upcoming Nook will be an affordable monochrome e-ink touch-screen model that operates similarly” to the Sony Reader. A more recent filing also seeks to protect MyNook, a web portal service “to remotely manage, […]
eNews
eNews: $1 Million More in Funding for Figment; Millions of Images from Yale
Teen writing site Figment has secured an additional $1 million in angel investor funding, which will go to developing new sales, marketing and distribution models and a marketplace where authors and publishers can sell their works. Figment will also move into publishing this fall with Blake Nelson’s DREAM SCHOOL, a sequel to his novel GIRL serialized in the 1990s by Sassy magazine. Nelson and Figment will split royalties equally, and PGW will distribute the book online and as a limited-edition print book. PaidContent Yale University has made its entire digital image collection available online for free and for unlimited use. […]
In and Out of Traditional Publishing: Victor, Curtis Brown UK, and Stephen Leather
Following the announcement of agent Ed Victor’s publishing venture Bedford Square Books, Curtis Brown UK managing director Jonathan Lloyd admits that his agency is well down the path of formulating their own strategy for republishing their clients’ out-of-print works. “We are right behind him, but with a rather larger list,” Lloyd tells The Bookseller. Meanwhile, Victor told us that while he is “having a lot of fun, going back to my roots” as a publisher, “first and foremost I’m an agent…. My day job is being a literary agent and taking care of my clients.” At the same time, Victor […]
Senate IP Legislation Back on the Table, but AAP Objects That Cyberlockers Aren’t Mentioned
Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy re-introduced a new version of the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA) that was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee last year but stalled out afterwards. The PROTECT IP Act has a narrower focus, which would allow the government to go after “rogue websites” containing pirated or infringed-upon content, and would allow for court orders against ISPs, search engines, ad networks and online payment processors to stop supporting such sites and for Google to stop linking to them. “The PROTECT IP Act targets the most egregious actors, and is an important first step to putting […]
People, Etc.
SVP and chief accounting officer for Scholastic John Giraldo will leave the company on June 1 for a new position, according to an SEC filing Thursday afternoon. Current evp and cfo Maureen O’Connell will take on Giraldo’s duties until a replacement is found. Bloomsbury associate publisher Sabrina Farber will leave the company at the end of this month. She has worked there since 2003. Longtime ABA staff member Mark Nichols‘ title has changed from industry relations officer to Development Officer. “The change was made to better reflect Nichols’ role in the association.” The ABA and On Demand Books have entered […]
Donnelley Will Provide POD and Frontlist Fulfillment for HarperCollins In Broad Supply Chain Agreement
HarperCollins has become the latest large publisher to address the shift in business from print to digital with a revised inventory model that outsources more services and reduces their fixed-cost warehouse network. Starting in November, the publisher will expand their longtime relationship with their printer RR Donnelley. All of Harper’s new releases will be fulfilled directly from Donnelley’s Harrisonburg, VA facility rather than Harper’s own network of warehouses. Donnelley will also provide global print-on-demand services to Harper, and as of July 2012, they will take over fulfillment of all titles from the Zondervan division, both frontlist and backlist. As a […]