After growing public disappointment from at least some authors with the effect of the Kindle Unlimited subscription program on the marketplace for self-published books, Amazon provided authors with a slight improvement on the economics for November. They added a “bonus” of $3.5 million to fund that self-published authors share, for a total of $6.5 million for the month (on approximately 4.68 million borrows). That makes the payment for each “borrow” $1.39, up 6 cents from October — when the $1.33 payout was the lowest since the more limited KOLL initiative began back in 2011. Those October fees remain below the $1.52 per borrow for […]
eNews
Digital: News from KU, Kobo, Scribd and Curtis Brown UK
Amazon has launched Kindle Unlimited in France and Brussels. Kobo is bringing “three-for-two” deals from the trade paperback tables to the ebookstore — starting with a promotion in the US with Hachette Book Group, good only through December 15. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is now participating in Scribd‘s ebook subscription service. (HMH is one of the few trade publishers actively participating in Kindle Unlimited as well.) Curtis Brown UK is launching another digital publishing initiative next March, called Studio 28, covered here by the Bookseller as if it’s the agency’s first run at such a venture. They expect to publish 12 […]
People, Etc.: Durham to Leave Amazon
Publisher of adult trade and children’s at Amazon Publishing Daphne Durham will leave the company on January 16, PW reports, and will be replaced by head of global marketing for the publishing division Mikyla Bruder, who will serve as publisher for Montlake Romance, Thomas & Mercer, Skyscape, Lake Union, 47North and Jet City Comics. (Durham had taken over Larry Kirshbaum’s responsibilities when he prepared to leave Amazon Publishing in October 2013.) Longtime Kindle singles editor David Blum will take on additional responsibilities as publisher and editor-in-chief of Little A — the literary imprint that was run by Ed Park — and Two Lions, a […]
HBG Tries Selling within Twitter
Hachette Book Group is the first book publisher to partner with Gumroad on selling books natively from within Twitter. Their initiative will launch starting December 11 with limited-time promotions for three print books, by Amanda Palmer, Chris Hadfield, and The Onion. Separately, the Digital Reader discovered left-behind tracks for an initiative HBG never launched during their standoff with Amazon over terms. The publisher registered ebooksforall.com and was reportedly working with Australia’s eBooks.com and social DRM-provider Booxtream on a site that would have sold ebooks readable on Kindles as well as standard EPUB devices. Asked about the report, HBG spokesperson Sophie Cottrell told […]
BN Pays Microsoft $62.5 Million In Nook Buyback
In a series of complex SEC documents, Barnes & Noble indicated that they have paid Microsoft $62.5 million to buyback their 16.8 percent share in Nook Media LLC, along with 2.74 million shares of BN stock (valued at $62.5 million, though that stock is worth less already). That implies a “fair market value” of about $700 million for Barnes & Noble College and Nook combined. Given that it cost Barnes & Noble $431 million to purchase College from the Riggio family (the last payment for which was just made in September), you can infer that puts a value on Nook […]
Retailers and Book Prices
Jeff Bezos said a lot of the expected things at the Ignition conference yesterday, a friendly interview conducted by Henry Blodget — whose Business Insider is funded in part by Bezos. The Amazon ceo is quoted widely for such standard remarks as, “Books, in my view, are too expensive. You know, $30 for a book, is too expensive.” (Bear in mind the book he means is one that Amazon pays about $15 for and then decides what to charge.) To us what’s missing is some context. Bezos also “want[s] to see millions of people living and working in space” and is […]