In the latest expansion of Penguin Random House’s film/tv development efforts, Random House Studio has signed a two-year first-look production agreement Universal Pictures. Random House Studio, under the direction of president Peter Gethers, will serve as a producer on the projects developed and filmed under the agreement. Once again, UTA represented Penguin Random House in the deal. Universal co-president of production Jeffrey Kirschenbaum says in the announcement: “Peter Gethers’ ability to identify books that can be adapted into movies that can attract major talent makes his team a unique and invaluable addition to the Universal family.” Universal is already readying […]
eNews
Amazon Readies “New Reader-Powered Publishing Program”
Over the past few days, Amazon emailed some self-published KDP authors about a new initiative in the works, according to a discussion on the Kindle forum. In response to a query, Amazon spokesperson Susan Stockman confirmed to us that the company is “working on a new reader-powered publishing program with transparent, fixed contract terms.” The new venture uses reader feedback to “vote” for books that should be published by Amazon: “Under the program, authors submit their books and, after a few days, an excerpt of a few pages will be posted for readers to nominate books they’d like to see published. […]
Forthcoming: Gabriel Garcia Marquez eBooks; Debut Fig Tree List
Vintage will release nine titles by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, including LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA and CHRONICLE OF A DEATH FORETOLD, in English-language ebook editions on October 15. At the same time, Vintage Espanol will issue ebook versions of 18 Garcia Marquez works in Spanish. The deal marks the first time books by Garcia Marquez, who died in April, will be available in digital format in the US, and comes several months after the estate’s agent Carmen Balcells announced a preliminary deal to create a joint partnership with the Wylie Agency. Jewish-American literary fiction publisher Fig Tree Books announced its […]
Trade Stays Flat As Children’s Sales Remain Strong
The AAP released monthly sales statistics for both April and May, confirming a trend of flat overall trade sales propped up by a few children’s/YA market hits. Total trade sales for $491 million in April (up $4 million from a year ago) and $525 million in May (up $2 million). In March sales were down $1 million, after a strong January and February. Of slight additional concern is that sales were flat even with the influx of millions of dollars in use-it-or-lose-it credits from the publisher ebook legal settlements. Those credits landed in customer accounts at the end of March, […]
Amazon Refreshes Kindle eReaders and Tablets, Adding Kids Tablet
After some leaks at their international stores, on Wednesday evening Amazon announced new ereaders and tablets, all set to ship in October. The new basic Kindle is thinner, adds a touchscreen, and sells for $79, with ads. (That’s $10 more than the previous basic model, or 15 percent higher. So the people who fight to control pricing because “e-books can and should be less expensive” are charging more for their least expensive device to read those ebooks.) The newest addition, tipped earlier, is the Kindle Voyage, “the thinnest device we’ve ever built” (7.6 mm thick), weighing 6.4 ounces, with a high-resolution display (300 pixels per inch) and improved front […]
iOS8 Launch Gives Apple A Second Bite At Building iBooks
The new iPhones become available on Friday, but it is today’s release of Apple’s iOS 8 (at 10 am Pacific Time) that may present the company’s biggest opportunity since the debut of iBooks in 2010 to build a meaningful market presence for their ebookstores. As originally disclosed in June, for the first time the iBooks app will be bundled into the iOS, pre-installed along with new Health, Tips and Podcast apps as well. (In the past users had to elect to download the iBooks app separately. As with the U2 song, there are already at least some complaints from users who […]