Yesterday, Brian O’Leary kicked off BISG’s NEXT conference–Developing the 2020 Publishing Program–with a reprise of his Context First presentation (previously delivered at Books in Browsers and Tools of Change). “The challenge is not just being digital,” O’Leary said, “It’s about being relevant.” His vision of “a digital-first, content-abundant universe”, where users define their content consumption experiences and publishers must develop flexible processes and workflows, appropriately set the stage for the day’s challenge of developing strategies for a fictional publisher in the year 2020. In small working groups, participants outlined mobile and content strategies, addressed discoverability, and defined the publisher’s customer-base and core […]
eNews
Former White House Press Secretary Named Crown Forum Editorial Director; Other Press Bumps Up Author E-Royalties; and More
Former White House Press Secretary Dana Perino has been named editorial director of Crown Forum, where she will acquire and edit six to eight titles annually for the conservative imprint. Perino, who currently works as a communications strategist and Fox News contributor and helped devise the promotional strategy for George W. Bush’s Decision Points, will work out of Washington, DC. Crown has also promoted Sean Desmond to executive editor. Starting Friday, April 1, Other Press will increase its ebook royalty rates to 50 percent of net proceeds once an author’s advance has earned out, and to 30 percent before an […]
People, Etc.
David Saracco has joined codeMantra as director of strategic accounts and business Development. Previously he was VP ePublishing and business development for Impelsys. Shaun Tan has won the Astrid Lindgren Prize, the largest children’s literature award. The Australian Crime novelist and critic HRF Keating, best known for his Inspector Ghote novels, died Sunday at the age of 84. Telegraph Obit Book Expo America announced the convention will have an increased digital presence on the show floor thanks to the IDPF-sponsored Digital Zone, which will feature 17 booths and 16 kioks over approximately 5000 square feet. The IDPF’s two day conference […]
BKS Stock Rises on Rumored Private Equity Interest; 3 Million Nook Colors Reportedly Shipped
Barnes & Noble‘s plummeting stock price of the past week or so – no doubt helped by a report that the company’s sale prospects appear to be dimming — reversed course yesterday, as shares rose 5 percent to 9.71 on renewed rumors the company might be taken over by private equity. Supply chain sources also indicate that BN has made and/or shipped approximately 3 million Nook Color units, with sales topping 1m in North America for the fourth quarter of 2010 and between 600,000 and 700,000 units between January and the end of February this year. The same sources also […]
Catherine Cookson Estate To Sell Digital Books Direct, and Other eNews
Add the estate of Catherine Cookson to the growing number of authors selling digital backlist titles directly (and, in this instance, exclusively through Amazon in the US and UK.) The author’s literary representatives at Sheil Land formed a separate company, Peach Tree Publishing, which will sell 91 Cookson titles as ebooks priced between $1.50 and $5.99. Cookson’s agent Sonia Land engages in some mutual controversy-starting with the Daily Mail by saying she never informed Cookson’s print publishers Transworld or Simon & Schuster of the ebook plan: I haven’t told either firm about the deal and I am sure they are going […]
S&S CEO Reidy: Ebook Sales Between 15-20 Percent, But Apps and Enhanced Ebooks A Non-Starter
Yesterday’s PublishingPoint conversation Simon & Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy’s conversation with Google Book Rights Registry CEO Michael Healy could not have been timed any better, though the news that emerged had less to do with the Google Book Settlement — and the now unclear future of the Rights Registry — and more with the original intent of the event, on S&S’s plan for existing and future digital initiatives. Reidy did comment briefly about the GBS rejection, saying she was disappointed, but the news wasn’t too surprising” and that she hopes it is “another way station along the way to a […]