Beth Lamb will join Vintage/Anchor on June 19 in the newly created position of vp, associate publisher, reporting to Anne Messitte. Previously she was associate publisher, trade books at Rodale. Messitte said in the announcement that Lamb “very much shares our belief that paperback and digital publishing today require creativity, innovation, and flexible strategies, that our authors are the center of all that we do, and that successful publishing relies on a deep understanding of the marketplace and consumer interests. Recognizing the potential of a robust backlist — sensing opportunities and acting on them — is a part of Beth’s […]
Sales
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 […]
eNews: Bug in Amazon’s Latest iOS App Update Erases Users’ Libraries; Free Kindle Book Affiliate Sites Get Crackdown
Amazon has warned users not to download the latest version of its iOS Kindle app because of a bug that deletes existing libraries from your device and can “deregister” the user. The iTunes page now includes a note that says, “There is a known issue with this update. If you are an existing Kindle for iOS user, we recommend you do not install this update at this time.” An Amazon spokesperson told Mashable, “To register, enter your Amazon account e-mail address and password and all your Amazon content will be available in the cloud. We have submitted an update fix […]
September Sales Rose Modestly As eBook Percentage Dropped Again (And K-12 Suffered)
The AAP released their monthly StatShot report for September 2012, with data from close to 1200 publishers, and as they state, it “reflects the trends we’ve seen all year: continued publishing growth overall with significant increases in children’s/young adult (especially eBook format) and slight erosion in religion publishing.” For September, however, children’s and YA books fell 4.2 percent (the big growth came earlier in the year) at $145.6 million overall, while net adult book sales of $468.1 million were up 2.8 percent–but that was due to reduced returns rather than higher gross shipments. So for the month, net trade sales […]
Sizing the UK eBook Market
The Bookseller obtained 2012 unit sale data on ebooks from six of the UK’s largest publishers, leading them to postulate that the total British ebook market comprised £235 million in publisher sales last year. (If their estimate is correct, it would mean that the top publishers have a much smaller share of ebook market in the UK than the US.) Reported to them by publishers (akin to AAP sales reports), Random House sold 11.2 million ebook units; Hachette 8.7 million; Harper UK 7.2 million, and Pan Macmillan 4.5 million. Some of those units were driven by the deep-discount 20-pence promotional […]
Kids Retain Strong Preference for Print, As Influence of Online Bookstores and Friends Rises
Bookigee founder Kristen McLean and Bowker executive Carl Kulo kicked off this morning’s Publishers Launch conference Children’s Publishing Goes Digital with updated data findings from fall 2012, the latest installment in their ongoing analysis of the purchase and discovery of children’s books. McLean underscored the overall stability of the children’s book market: As to “the fear–that we were going to lose readers” with the rise of other electronic media, “there’s no data we’ve seen to support the idea that kids are reading less, and we’ve seen some data to support the idea that kids are reading more. We really believe […]