Diversion Publishing is launching a new self-publishing division, Radius Book Group, led by vp, business development Mary Cummings and managing editor Fiona Hallowell. Radius will sell aspiring authors packages ranging from DIY options through Ingram Spark to comprehensive publishing services. Bestselling self-published author Marie Force is launching a new contemporary romance company, Jack’s House Publishing. Force says in the announcement, “Jack’s House came about after many authors contacted me to ask when I was going to get into the publishing business.” She notes, “I had all the players already in place after four years of running my Formatting Fairies business, which I founded […]
eNews
Authors Puzzle Over February KU Payments
As usual, Amazon announced their retroactive payment rate for ebooks in the Kindle Unlimited subscription program that were read in February. The company elected to allocate a pool of $14 million — down $1 million from January, in a slightly shorter month — paying at the rate of $.00478 per page in the US. That’s a rebound from the low point in January, when the rate dropped to $.00412 per page. Or is it? February was the first month that Amazon used their new methodology for calculating what constitutes a page for payment purposes, the poetically-named KENPC 2.0 [Kindle Edition Normalized […]
People, Etc.
Andrew Smith will join Abrams as svp, publisher, children’s books on March 31. Previously he was svp, deputy publisher at Little, Brown Children’s. He succeeds Susan Van Metre, who after six years as publisher will transition to vp, editor in chief, children’s books and editorial director, Amulet to focus on acquisitions and guiding its editorial team. Van Metre and associate publisher Jody Mosley will report to Smith. Abrams president & ceo Michael Jacobs said in the announcement: “I am pleased that Andrew Smith will be joining Abrams. In him, we have found an experienced and extremely dedicated book publishing executive […]
Amazon’s Misener Waffles In MFN Testimony
A UK Parliament committee has been gathering evidence on The Digital Economy, including a written complaint about Amazon’s market power filed by the Bookseller’s Association, and oral testimony from Amazon’s vp of global public policy Paul Misener. On the question of most favored nations clauses, which are under investigation by the European Commission, Misener said: “We have MFN clauses with respect to e-books and e-books alone. Those MFN clauses cover pricing and other characteristics—release dates and those sorts of things.” Despite legal remedies already imposed by authorities in the EU and courts in the US, he insists, “It is largely because of the opportunities […]
Quantifying Nook’s Decline, and More
As Barnes & Noble ceo Ron Boire first announced in Thursday’s investor call, Nook UK will shut down on March 15, and customers are being are transferred to Sainsbury’s Entertainment on Demand. Nook explained the transitions to customers online. The same date is when Nook told customers they will stop selling apps (though they are having a final sale until then). The company’s stock rallied Thursday on decent earnings and the continued reduction of Nook — though it’s still below where it was until before the previous quarter’s report. And while the company’s account of the “lowest number of store closings […]
Samhain Publishing “Winding Down”
Samhain Publishing announced to authors via email on Friday that the digital publisher is “beginning the process of winding down due to our market share’s continuing decline. We’re approaching the point where we cannot sustain our business.” Christina Brashear adds, “We prefer to go out gracefully and not get to the point where our overhead compromises our ability to pay the authors’ royalties. That’s would just be wrong. We want to stay on the high road and keep your respect.” Samhain says their objective is an orderly shrinking of operations, underscoring that, “We are going to continue on with selling our […]