In a new type of library discovery case study, Sourcebooks and OverDrive are working together to offer Michael Malone’s novel FOUR CORNERS OF THE SKY available for free to library patrons in hundreds of countries for 18 days, beginning May 15. They are calling it the “Big Library Read.” The objective is to accumulate data to quantify the effects of library support on sales and discovery in a variety of ways. In particular, Sourcebooks is looking to see if the special promotion drives strong and sustainable checkouts; if that carries over to the author’s other books; and if it results […]
eNews
Nook Adds Google Apps; Has Sold 10 Million Devices
After more disappointing device sales over the 2012 holidays, Barnes & Noble ceo William Lynch promised investors “we’re not going to continue doing what we’re doing; we’re doing to adjust quickly.” At the time, Lynch also noted the company had concluded that “larger technology brands have more resonance in that multifunction tablet world than we do.” So the company has announced a linkage with another big technology brand — Google — which lets the Nook HD tablets serve as Google tablets, too. Through apps they are adding the Google Play media experience, as well as “popular Google services like the […]
O’Reilly Discontinues TOC Conferences & Website
O’Reilly will end its Tools of Change Publishing conferences after seven years of operating in several cities, including New York, Frankfurt, and Bologna. In addition, the companion website will also close, and TOC co-chairs Kat Meyer and Joe Wikert will leave the company. “The decision to discontinue a popular conference was not one we made lightly,” publisher Tim O’Reilly said in the announcement on the TOC blog, “But after TOC 2013, we realized that a conference was no longer the best vehicle for us to contribute to publishing’s forward movement…Seven years on, ‘digital publishing’ is well on its way to simply […]
People, Etc.
Brendan Cahill has returned to traditional publishing, joining Random House, Inc. as vp, corporate projects. The company says he “will be working with departments across the company on a variety of internal and externally-directed endeavors, beginning with digital-partnership development opportunities.” He was ceo at NatureShare/Green Mountain Digital and publisher at Open Road most recently. Prior to that he had been an editor at Gotham Books before leaving publishing to attend business school. Founder of MacAdam/Cage Publishing David Poindexter, 59, died April 29 of cancer, just three months after he was diagnosed. Poindexter founded the independent publishing house in 1998, publishing authors […]
Hachette Book Group to Resume Sale of New eBooks to Libraries
Hachette Book Group announced Wednesday that it will make its entire catalog of ebooks available to libraries, beginning May 8, including new and recent releases. HBG had stopped the sale of new ebooks to libraries as of April 2010, so the policy change will open up both brand-new releases as well as titles from the past 3 years to library ebook lending. HBG has formalized new terms of sale that expand on the backlist ebook price increases they introduced in February 2012 as “part of an experimental pilot to find out more about the digital library marketplace.” eBook versions of newly-released titles […]
Courier Acquires FastPencil
Self-publishing platform FastPencil has been acquired by printer and publisher Courier. The news was announced after the close of the market on Tuesday, and just ahead of Courier reporting second quarter earnings on Wednesday morning. The terms were not disclosed for now, but for Courier — with roughly $260 million in annual sales — it’s likely that the price would be considered material and will be disclosed in due time. FastPencil is a self-publishing company and provider of software tools to enable self-publishing–and recently worked in partnership with Nook on their new set of Nook Press content creation, collaboration and […]