Scribd relaunched what it dubs its “new browse experience”, the company’s try at digital book discovery to complement its existing subscription program, which now boasts 500,000 titles (with Princeton University Press, Samhain, and National Geographic among the most recently added publishers.) The browsing capability is available at Scribd’s website and in the coming weeks through its various mobile apps. Scribd vp, marketing Julie Haddon told us in an interview earlier this week that the company enlisted a “50-person team of scientists, book publishing experts, librarians, and marketers”, as well as a small editorial staff, to “work out the ideal browsing […]
eNews
eNews: Sainsbury Takes Full Control of Anobii; Nook GlowLight in the UK; and More
Sainsbury’s is now the sole owner of fledgling ebookstore Anobii, the Bookseller reports, buying out Penguin Random House’s 24 percent stake and Harper UK’s 12 percent stake. (The company first acquired HMV’s 64 percent stake in Anobii in 2012.) Sainsbury’s said the move “gives it full control of the platform as part of its growing Sainsbury’s Entertainment digital offer”, with plans to expannd its current website selling film, music and books. Barnes & Noble will sell its current version of Nook GlowLight in the UK for £89, with the ereader stocked in retailers including Argos, ASDA, Blackwells, Foyles, John Lewis, […]
“Traditional Titles” Dip Slightly in 2013, Bowker Reports
Bowker released its estimates of print book production for 2013, noting that what they call “traditional” output–which includes self-publishers like CreateSpace, but excludes public domain POD factories like BiblioBazaar — dipped 2 percent from 309,957 titles in 2012 to a projected 304,912 titles in 2013. Despite the decline as compared to the previous year (and general growth in the several years before then) Bowker said the result “points to a relatively stable market for print works despite competition from e-books.” The public domain business (or what Bowker refers to as “nontraditional” titles) declined far more significantly, to 1,108,183 titles, a […]
Safari Books Now Fully Owned By O’Reilly Media, and More
O’Reilly Media has become sole owner of Safari Books, buying out Pearson’s 50 percent stake for an undisclosed sum (though it’s expected Pearson will announce how much it was paid in their next financial report later this year.) Safari, founded in 2001 as a joint entity between O’Reilly and Pearson, will continue to operate as an independent company, and no changes will be made to staff, product, offices, and operations. In a blog post about the change, founder and ceo of O’Reilly Media Tim O’Reilly said the company “came to believe that there are substantial opportunities for both organizations working […]
Kensington Discloses 18-Month Terms Impasse With Amazon
Hachette’s ongoing terms dispute with Amazon has given cover for the WSJ to describe another recently resolved terms dispute between the retailer and a different, smaller publisher. Kensington ceo Steven Zacharius told the paper the company spent 18 months negotiating its latest deal with Amazon, which began in July and expires 12 months later. Discussions lasted so long, Zacharius said, because “each person got entrenched and didn’t want to budge. But at a certain point there has to be compromise.” Zacharius wouldn’t say why the talks dragged on so long but that it resulted in “a fair deal for both […]
Update re: Awkward Amazon Communications On Amazon/Hachette Business Interruption
As most of our readership has likely seen by now, on Tuesday afternoon the Amazon Books team put up another unsigned, closed to comment post (or what Barry Eisler would call a shameful “pointless, pernicious, promiscuous anonymity”) on the Kindle Forum. The post is said to offer “specific information about Amazon’s objectives” in their negotiations with Hachette Book Group. If you have not read the post yet, check it out. It raises many questions, among them: – Amazon is very careful with their words, even if not elegant. The post begins, “A key objective is lower e-book prices.” A lot of traditional […]