News Corp. announced that they have bought the “platform” portion of Hearst’s Skiff venture–but not the yet-to-be-launched black-and-white ereading device. In the announcement they focus entirely on the Skiff platform to the extent that it “specializes in delivering visually appealing layouts for newspaper and magazine content.” The Skiff platform was designed to sell and deliver ebooks as well, and their team has been building an ebookstore, though no mention of that feature has been made in the announcement and a direct query to Skiff has not yet been answered. As the WSJ puts it, “Skiff technology handles the behind-the-scenes workings […]
eNews
People, Amazon Winners, eNews, Etc.
Amazon announced the two winners of this year’s Breakthrough Novel award, with Patricia McArdle’s novel FARISHTA to bepublished by Riverhead, and Amy Ackley’s YA novel SIGN LANGUAGE to be published by Viking Children’s.Release Other Press has hired Sarah Reidy as director of publicity, starting June 16. She had been an associate director of publicity at Gallery/Threshold Editions/Pocket. Terrie Akers has been promoted to manager, online publicity and social media. In other announcements, Random House Children’s is releasing the 43-title Magic Tree House series in ebook editions today. And Amazon has begun delivering the updated Kindle 2.5 software to device owners. […]
People, Etc.
At Penguin Group USA, Heidi Graynor has been promoted to vp, sales administration. She has been with the company since 1983. At McClelland and Stewart, associate publisher for nonfiction Susan Renouf is retiring from the company as of June 30, though she will resume her consulting and editorial business. Christine Gillespie has been promoted to vp, associate publisher for Knopf, Pantheon and Schocken, continuing to report to Patricia Johnson. Sterling editor Alyssa Smith is reported to have lost her home to a fire in Union City, NJ that consumed three buildings. Rose Fox has a page with information, also seeking […]
More iPad (and Wall Street) Numbers
Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty raised her forecast (e.g. “guess”) for iPad sales within 2010 to 10 million units (up from 6 million), and sees a range for the first 12 months of sale of between 13 million and 16 million units. On that basis, Huberty declares the tablet is “on pace to become one of the most popular devices in mobile history.” She concludes that the iPad is already responsible for a drop in netbook sales in April. Huberty also raised her price target on Apple stock to $332 a share (with her most optimistic iPad projections pushing the […]
Jobs: Agency Publishers Say iBookstore Has 22 Percent Market Share
Speaking at yesterday’s Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), ceo Steve Jobs said “five of the six biggest publishers in the US tell us that the share of iBooks is up to about 22 percent — in about 8 weeks.” That confirms and also well exceeds our report gauging the market about a month after the iPad launched (on May 6), when large publishers said the iBookstore was capturing ebook market share for them of 12 to 15 percent, and indicates continuing ramp-up as Apple puts more units into the marketplace. Jobs also said, “in the first 65 days, users have […]
eNews: Amazon Splits Lists, and More
Amazon is live now with separate hourly Kindle bestsellerlists for paid and free titles.Current list Rosetta Books’ latest one-year exclusive ebook deal with Amazon is for four older books by Congressman Ron Paul (but not his latest two, already available at multiple ebookstores from Grand Central).Release In Canada, price comparisons performed by Index/mb show that Kobo’s advertised claim of the “best selection and prices for ebooks in Canada” appears to be fully valid, with a side-by-side look at Kobo and Amazon Canada ebook prices.Post