* Twelve will release a deluxe $1,000 edition of Ted Kennedy’s memoir TRUE COMPASS, limited to 1,000 numbered leather-bound copies. They will reproduce an electronic signature by Kennedy, and include “rare family photos” that will not appear in the trade edition. But the special edition will follow the trade release by “several weeks.” It’s being sold directly through the HBG web site. * Graphic novel and comic book publisher Boom! Studios has signed with Simon & Schuster for sales and distribution, effective immediately.http://www.boom-studios.com * The Stanza reader, now owned by Amazon, wished itself a happy first birthday via a press […]
eNews
Sourcebooks to Delay Release of eBook Version of Hot New YA Novel
Big publishers throughout the industry have been quietly discussing postponing the release of ebook versions of their frontlist hardcover fiction after the dramatic spike in Kindle sales at the widely-despised (within the industry) $9.95 price point–but independent Sourcebooks is the first to score headlines for delaying an ebook release. The WSJ covers their decision to delay an ebook release of Kaleb Nation’s BRAN HAMBRIC: The Farfield Curse for at least six months. Sourcebooks has announced a 75,000-copy first printing for September and agent Richard Curtis concurs with the decision: “We don’t want to undercut the sales and royalty potential of […]
Spain's Three Biggest Publishers Form eBook Distribution Company
Planeta, Random House Mondadori and Santillana–which comprise 70 percent of the Spanish trade book market–have joined forces to set up an ebook distribution company. And apparently the three hope that together they can impose an economic model on the market–intending to sell ebooks at 80 percent of the print list price, paying royalty of 25 percent, and selling to booksellers at a 50 percent discount. But publishers intend to hold these terms only for two years, through 2011. Publishing Perspectives (the recently-launched newsletter from the Frankfurt Book Fair covering one issue of international interest daily, led by Ed Nawotka) reports: […]
More International News: Australian Restrictions Set to Fall; Chinese Kindle Clone; Borders UK to Close 5 Stores; and Three UK Papers Run the Same Story
In Australia, with a report imminent from the Productivity Commission on the country’s copyright laws that protect local book publishing from import editions, consumers are expected to win a bigger victory than initially anticipated. The Sydney Morning Herald “understands one of the proposals will be to free up restrictions on book imports, after a period of up to three years to give the industry time to adjust.” In a draft version of their recommendations in March the commission “said removing all import restrictions would damage the industry” and “advocated limits should apply for a year after a book was first […]
Google Renegotiates Terms with Two More Libraries
Following what some saw as a renegade initial renegotiation of terms of the Google Book Search scanning agreement with the University of Michigan, Google has announced new agreements with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Texas. While Michigan specified many of the particulars of their agreement (which gives the institution free access to the complete database that Google intends to license to other institutions as compensation for the books provide for scanning), the new announcement do little more than repeat blandishments about increased public access. (That access is still dependent upon the approval of the settlement of the […]
Amazon Drops Kindle Price to $299
Amazon has lowered the price of the basic Kindle 2 reader by $60 to $299. Having previously insisted that they could not afford to lower the price, spokesman Drew Herdener now says, “Whenever we are able to create cost efficiencies like this, we pass the savings along to our customers.”Bloomberg