As we previewed on Tuesday, today is the official launch day for Walmart ebooks (including digital audiobooks as well), in partnership with Rakuten Kobo. In separate news, Kobo has added “one-touch public library lending” to all of their ereading devices, for libraries that use Rakuten’s OverDrive. Kobo ceo Michael Tamblyn says in the announcement, “The insights […]
Web marketing/promotion
Next, Macmillan to Close Romance Community Site
Macmillan is closing another digital property, announcing the end of their six-year-old romance community website, Heroes and Heartbreakers. (Earlier this week, the company announced the closing of self-publishing platform Pronoun.) In a statement, Macmillan said: “As the digital habits of readers and consumers evolve, our strategic direction for reaching them evolves as well. Macmillan will […]
Corporate: Ingram Pairs with Optiqly; BISG On Rights
Marketing technology and services startup Optiqly — still in private beta and launching shortly — will provide a version of their tools through Ingram’s CoreSource as a subscription service, adapted to focus on servicing the company’s distribution clients. The deal provides Ingram an exclusive among a limited set of large distributors and wholesalers. Ingram Content […]
HarperCollins Celebrates 200 Years
HarperCollins announced a campaign to commemorate its 200th anniversary — beginning with the creation of J. & J. Harper, Printers in 1817 — focused around a new website. Anniversary events will include a campaign to support literacy and reading, charity projects, and an exhibition of historical items at the Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript […]
HarperCollins Launches Book Recommendation Bots
HarperCollins has announced the launch of BookGenie and Epic Reads, two bot-powered book recommendation engines available through Facebook Messenger. Both provide book recommendations through one-on-one chatting. With Bookgenie, readers request a recommendation based on a book they enjoyed, or select from curated recommendations. Epic Reads, related to the publisher’s YA-focused site, allows readers to specify what […]
People, Etc.
Soumeya Bendimerad Roberts has joined Hannigan Salky Getzler Agency as agent and rights director. She will be focusing on her literary fiction, narrative non-fiction list, and young adult list. Roberts was most recently an agent at Writers House. In addition, Leigh Eisenman and Tanusri Prasanna have both been promoted to agent. Eisenman will be growing […]