Amazon has launched a modest “Prime Reading” initiative that fits alongside the company’s far more expansive Prime Video and Prime Music in allowing their Prime subscription members to access a small catalog of ebooks and magazines to read for free. It offers “a rotating selection of books, magazines, comics and more,” comprising about 1,000 ebooks — many of them house-published. Unlike the awkwardly-named (and tricky to use) Kindle Owner’s Lending Library, Prime Reading allows users to “borrow” up to 10 titles at a time, and they can be read across the line of Kindle apps and are not restricted to Amazon […]
Subscription
Briefs: Johnson’s Book on Shakespeare Delayed or Cancelled, and More
Newly appointed UK foreign secretary and Brexit campaign leader Boris Johnson‘s forthcoming book on Shakespeare, scheduled for release on November 15 from Hodder & Stoughton and Riverhead, will not be published this year, and may not be published at all according to the Daily Mail. They report Johnson “is believed to be having to pay back a £500,000 advance” to Hodder & Stoughton having “conceded he doesn’t have the time” to write the book. A spokesperson for Riverhead put it differently, writing: “In light of his new responsibilities in the UK, Boris Johnson will be unable to complete his book […]
Goodreads Enters eMail Deals Business
One tried and true digital marketing tool (for now, at least) is email deal newsletters, and now Goodreads is joining the game. Goodreads Deals will alert site members when an ebook on their “want to read” list or an author they follow is discounted. They are also offering daily deals email newsletters in three genre fiction categories, along with “bestsellers,” and they say they plan “to expand into more genres as quickly as we can.” The program starts in the US. In the press release Goodreads ceo Otis Chandler says, “This program is also a powerful new marketing tool for authors and publishers; […]
Scribd Drops Unlimited Subscription Model
After various strategic cutbacks in portions of their subscription reading and listening last year, Scribd is taking the expected broader step in revamping their business model. The service announced on Tuesday afternoon that as of mid-March, their offer of unlimited ebook borrowing is going away as they continue to try to “strike the right balance between delivering a great value to our subscribers and achieving long-term sustainability,” according to ceo Trip Adler. Going forward the monthly Scribd subscription will give customers “a choice of three books and one audiobook a month.” The option of “unlimited reading” will be limited to a […]
Amazon’s Tale of Two Borrows Continues: KU Pool Rises, Page Rate Decreases
Amazon announced the retroactive rate at which they will compensate Kindle Unlimited participants for books read (and subscriptions paid for) in January. The per page fell to its lowest point yet, $.00412 per page (about 4/10ths of one cent) — or 10.6 percent lower than the $0.00461 per page a month ago — while the overall pool of money paid out increased to its highest level yet, at $15 million. At the beginning of the month, Amazon had also announced a revised methodology for their universal way of measuring ebook “pages” for calculating those per-page payments. That new method applies starting […]
People, Etc.
Marion Garner has been promoted to deputy publisher, vp of Penguin Random House Canada, continuing to report to president and publisher Kristin Cochrane. (Garner has been deputy publisher for the Random House Canada imprints). In the new, broader role, Garner “will have input into acquisitions, oversee the inventory of all our imprints, work closely with the imprint directors and publishers, and will have a hand in the behind-the-scenes elements of our publishing efforts as they involve marketing, publicity and sales meetings.” She will also manage all of the paperback publishing. Lindley Boegehold has joined Clarkson Potter as editorial director overseeing the Potter gift line of products. Previously she was […]