In addition to changing the name of Shortcovers to Kobo, the venture announced that it is separating out of parent company Indigo Books to operate as an independent company. A new round of funding has raised $16 million (Canadian), with $5 million coming from Indigo, now joined by Borders Group, REDgroup Retail (which currently owns the major book chains in Australia and New Zealand), and Instant Fame, a subsidiary of Cheung Kong. Those new funders will also serve as strategic distribution partners for Kobo’s international rollout. Indigo retains a 58 percent stake in Kobo, the Canadian Press reports. Borders is […]
eNews
Stephen Covey Tries eRights with Rosetta; Amazon and S&S Tangle
Stephen Covey’s bestselling 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE as well as his 1991 book PRINCIPLE-CENTERED LEADERSHIP became available as ebooks on December 2, through epublisher Rosetta Books. Rosetta ceo Arthur Klebanoff indicates to the NYT that Covey is receiving “more than half of the net proceeds.” Amazon’s Kindle platform has been given a one-year exclusive on the titles “in trade for promotion,” while Rosetta’s license is “for a period of years,” according to Klebanoff. Covey’s company Franklin Covey already publishes certain products directly, without a publishing partner, though Covey and his son Sean tell the NYT they intend to […]
The New eRights Battle
As many readers know by now, last Friday Random House ceo Markus Dohle wrote to agents with the twofold purpose of summarizing some of the publisher’s ebook and electronic marketing initiatives, and reasserting their view that “the vast majority of [their] backlist contracts grant us the exclusive right to publish books in electronic format.” Since many agents disagree with that view, the letter was quickly interpreted as a warning shot to Jane Friedman’s start-up Open Road and any others who would aspire to electronic rights to legacy titles still active in the marketplace. And some saw the possibility that Random […]
More eNews: Kindle App Goes International; Shortcovers Adds Lots of PD Titles
Amazon launch the new international version of their Kindle for iPhone app–opening up purchase of some Kindle ebooks to iPhone customers in over 60 countries. Kindle for Mac and Blackberry are still listed as expected “in the coming months.”Release Separately, Shortcovers announced that they will make available 1.8 million public domain titles from the Internet Archive.Release
Random House CEO Dohle's Letter to Agents on eRights and More
More on Pricing, and Kennedy Book
Following our story yesterday on high-profile pre-orders for which Amazon has dropped the ebook price to $7.99, we found a host of other popular current titles also offered below the $9.99 price point, including: Wolf Hall ($8.80); The Help ($7.60); The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson ($7.99); Pursuit of Honor ($8.00); What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures ($9.00); and Beautiful Creatures ($9.00). BN.com basically matches Amazon’s pricing. Meanwhile, though Twelve is releasing Ted Kennedy’s TRUE COMPASS as an ebook later this month, they have postponed a trade paperback edition until 2011. Cary Goldstein tells the AP […]