Ingram has announced what they call “a comprehensive solution for publishers to manage the complete life cycle of print books,” under the banner LifePrint. The program lets publishers manage everything from print-on-demand and digital short-runs up through full offset runs from a master digital file, so they can “manufacture books in any quantity, from a single copy to a high-volume print run.” It pairs Ingram’s own extensive on-demand print centers with “high-volume, offset book printing affiliates to provide a seamless solution with a simple pricing structure.” In another pre-BEA product announced, Rowman & Littlefield has launched an ebookstore as part of […]
eNews
With Kindle Worlds, Amazon Turns Fan Fiction Into A Business
A little more than a year ago, EL James spun what originally began life as Twilight fan fiction into one of the most successful book series ever. Now Amazon.com is tapping into the energetic world of fan fiction with the first broad, legally licensed, commercial model. Wednesday morning the company announced Kindle Worlds, a new digital publishing program that allows writers to upload and sell fan fiction based on well-known entertainment properties with characters that inspire fans. The initial properties all come from Alloy Entertainment — PRETTY LITTLE LIARS, GOSSIP GIRL, and THE VAMPIRE DIARIES — and Amazon “plans to […]
eNews: Winning Hacks, New Launches, and More
At least 30 projects were submitted as part of the Publishing Hackathon over the weekend, viewable here. Contestant Eric Hellman reports that the six finalists are: BookCity (suggests books to match places you visit) Captiv (turns your Tweets into book recommendations) Coverlist (shows 100 curated jackets; hover over an image to see a related recommendation) Evoke (connects books for teens based on the emotional connection to characters — classifying reading experiences as “inspired, challenged, amused, or informed”) KooBrowser (browser plugin that matches book recommendations to web pages you visit) Library Atlas (app that sends you book quotes based on your […]
Over 400 Prepare to Hack Publishing
The programming and pitching work of the Publishing Hackathon takes place this weekend at Alley NYC, and the organizers report that 406 developers, designers and entrepreneurs have registered to participate. Fifteen sponsors have enrolled as well, and the previously-announced $10,000 grand prize has been joined by a series of smaller cash prizes for specific challenges. The Perseus Books Group is honoring the project that best promotes discovery of non-fiction books; Moon Travel and Rick Steves are picking the project that best promotes the discovery of travel guidebooks. Similarly, Pearson is honoring the project that best uses their Penguin Classics and […]
People, Etc.
Joe Perez has joined the Random House Publishing Group as senior art director. Previously he was art director at Portfolio. At Atheneum, Emma Ledbetter has been promoted to assistant editor. Kerri Buckley has joined Carina Press as editor. Previously she was a product manager at Christopher Radko/Rauch Industries and before then, editor at Ballantine Bantam Dell. At Goodreads, Patrick Brown has been promoted to director of author marketing. In addition, Cynthia Shannon has been named author marketing coordinator. Previously she was communications manager at Berrett-Koehler. Fiona Brown has joined Little, Brown as senior publicist. Previously, she was at Riverhead. In the UK, […]
Anonymous Microsoft Insider Denies Nook Story; Barnes & Noble Stock Suffers
The grain of salt we advised on the flawed TechCrunch report of potential interest in Microsoft buying out the digital assets of Nook Media has turned into a veritable salt flat. Another site, Insider Monkey, posted an item early Monday afternoon said to come from “a highly placed source inside Microsoft” denying the likelihood of a deal. Barnes & Noble stock fell 13 percent in about 30 minutes Monday afternoon on very heavy volume. It hit a trough and by 3 PM started to recover some of the losses, off about $2.20 a share or 9.5 percent for the day, […]