F+W Media has entered an “online commerce collaboration” that means the company will sell direct to consumers approximately 500,000 books fulfilled by Ingram across their 21 community/vertical-focused estores. F+W ceo David Nussbaum says in the announcement, “Our mission is to serve our enthusiasts with the best available content and services in support of their creative pursuits. As our eCommerce business continues to grow and diversify, we will further that mission by offering other high-quality content, regardless of publisher. What makes the F+W eStore experience unique to other e-tailers is the trusted relationship shared between readers and the company’s expert editors.” […]
eNews
Financials: $4 Mil for Open Road; $10 Mil for BookRenter; An IPO for Nielsen
Open Road Integrated Media has received a second round of funding, getting another $4 million from Kohlberg Ventures, which also provided the start-up’s original $3 million in capital. Jim Kohlberg at Kohlberg Ventures says in the announcement “with the convergence of expanding device options and the rapid adoption of ebooks, we strongly believe that the Open Road model and its team are uniquely positioned to succeed in the marketplace. We are pleased to continue our support through additional funding.” BookRenter has collected even more, raising $10 million in their latest financing, led by Norwest Venture Partners, with follow-on investments from […]
S&S Release eBooks of McMurtry Backlist
As of today Simon & Schuster has issued all of their Larry McMurtry backlist in ebook editions. Later this month they will release two ebook “boxed” bundles of the Lonesome Dove series (comprising four titles, for $36.99) and the five-book Berrybender Narratives, at $31.99. They will also publish a 25th anniversary trade paperback edition of LONESOME DOVE with a new introduction on June 15.
Texas Attorney General Probes Agency Model and Apple
As reported in May, Apple is said to be the target of one potential Federal Trade Commission inquiry into their new requirements for software developers building apps for the iPhone operating system, and a second antitrust inquiry from the Department of Justice over their online music business. At least a few publishing eyebrows were raised last week when the NYT reported that “investigators had asked in particular about recent allegations that Apple used its dominant market position to persuade music labels to refuse to give the online retailer Amazon.com exclusive access to music about to be released.” Now Publishers Lunch […]
eNews Round-Up: iPad Sales, Cheaper Reader, Thinner Kindle, and More
Apple announced yesterday that, following the first stage of their international iPad rollout, they have sold over two millions units, in less than 60 days.Release Borders is betting on the cheap end of ereaders. As promised in last week’s conference call with investors, today they announced that as of July 2 they’ll sell a $119 ereader from Aluratek. (That undercuts the $150 Kobo reader they are helping to launch this month.)Borders pre-order page What does Amazon plan next? Bloomberg reported Friday that the next version of Kindle, due in August, will be “thinner and have a more responsive screen with […]
iPad Takes the World
Apple’s iPad released today in major book markets included UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, and Germany–plus France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. Though the UK iBookstore launch was preceded by worried speculation that UK publishers were concerned aspects of Apple’s contract might run afoul of local pricing laws, lo and behold, Ye Agency Foure (Hachette UK, Penguin, Pan Macmillan and Harper UK) are all participating. (The smallest of the group, Simon & Schuster UK, is not currently participating and has yet to comment.) But no other UK publishers are known to have a direct relationship with Apple yet, and again Random UK […]