Rosetta Books announced multiple promotions: Nav Khalsa has been appointed digital marketing director; Greg Freed is production and distribution director; Michelle Weyenberg has been named digital marketing and promotions manager; Hannah Bennett is now production manager; and Peter Clark is production manager. Also, the head of Rosetta’s UK office Jonathan Ward will relocate to Beijing in January, where his duties will include supervising a new, exclusive partnership with the China National Publications Import and Export Group to distribute their english-language ebooks catalog to libraries, schools, and other institutional accounts in China. Rosetta ceo Arthur Klebanoff notes that “The market in […]
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Murray Says Extra Digital Margin Is Shared By Everyone
HarperCollins CEO Brian Murray was one of many executives presenting to UBS’s annual Global Media and Communications Conference on Wednesday. (You can listen to the full webcast and view the slides via this link on the News Corp. site. The royalty discussion starts about 19 minutes and 30 seconds in.) Consistent with an investor presentation earlier in the year as News Corp. was preparing the spinoff of the freestanding company that houses Harper, Murray told investors that “the opportunities before us have never been as positive as they are today.” Among the slides, this one shows the variations in ebook […]
New Author Survey Results
Among the multiple presentations of original data due at January’s Digital Book World is the return of last year’s closely followed author survey, from DBW and Writer’s Digest. This year’s survey drew participation from over 9,000 authors, and the conference presentation will include analysis from author and professor of data analytics and applied social research Dana Beth Weinberg. For now, DBW.com has posted a sampling of the some of the results, ahead of the event. Discounted pricing to the biggest-yet Digital Book World Conference expires a week from tomorrow, so this is a great time to grab your ticket and […]
Amazon Unveils Hopes for Delivery Drones
Amazon ceo Jeff Bezos attracted attention for a Sunday night appearance on 60 Minutes, where he introduced the world to the company’s prototype “octocopters”: small “Prime Air” delivery drones they hope to deploy. A promotional video from Amazon describes it as “something the team has been working on in our next generation R&D lab. The goal of this new delivery system is to get packages into customers’ hands in 30 minutes or less using unmanned aerial vehicles. Putting Prime Air into commercial use will take some number of years as we advance technology and wait for the necessary FAA rules […]
Bookselling, Etc.: Fundraising for Changing Hands and St. Mark’s; Harper’s Inflight Experiment
Changing Hands Bookstore has planned to open a second location in Phoenix, AZ for quite some time, but they hope to make it a reality thanks to a crowdfunding campaign to raise $80,000. It’s a fixed-funding campaign, which means backers will see their money returned if the store doesn’t reach its goal by December 24, and the store told Shelf Awareness that goal “is just a fraction of what we need to build a new indie bookstore. We’re putting up the bulk of the funding from our own resources. The $80K we hope to raise with this project will bring […]
Amazon Acquires AudioGo’s UK Catalog; Kindle Paperwhite Rumors; and More
Amazon has a licensing deal to publish the UK back catalog of bankrupt audiobook publisher AudioGo, according to the Sunday Times. The deal gives Amazon (which owns Audible) access to at least 5,000 titles from the company previously known as BBC Audiobooks. In Amazon rumor news, TechCrunch says the company’s next Kindle Paperwhite will be sold in the second quarter of 2014 and will include a high-resolution 300 ppi screen, custom typography, and an ambient light sensor. A new BBC documentary set to air Monday evening provides a behind-the-scenes look at the working conditions of one of Amazon’s UK-based warehouses, […]