HarperCollins Italia has acquired 20lines, a community that allows users to write, read and share short-format stories via a smartphone app. Available in seven languages, the app is said to feature 40,000 authors and 15,000 new pieces of content published every month. Harper’s chief digital officer, evp international Chantal Restivo-Alessi says in the announcement, “20lines has created a tremendous platform with a passionate community of readers and writers in the same markets where HarperCollins maintains a global footprint. We look forward to engaging with its users and exploring short-form content.” Separately, Penguin Random House India announced a co-publishing partnership for local language translation with Manjul Publishing House. […]
Finance
Rakuten Takes Big Impairment Charge On Kobo
Last Friday Rakuten reported fourth quarter full-year 2015 results. In connection with that report, they took 38.1 billion yen in impairment charges (roughly $332 million), including a significant charge against the Kobo division of 7.8 billion yen (roughly $68 million). The company said that Kobo “has been impacted by a slower start to the rise of the global ebook industry than we originally expected, and hence its business plan fell behind original targets.” At the same time, Rakuten said that OverDrive’s financial performance “has been rapidly improving.” They added that “as a result, we expect EBITDA of our ebook business including […]
People: Lucas to Lead NBF
Lisa Lucas, 36, the publisher of arts magazine Guernica, will become executive director of the National Book Foundation, starting March 14. She tells the NYT, “Readers are everything, readers are everyone. It should be about building one big massive audience that’s reflective of where we live.” She adds, “The practice of building readers, is the practice of building a better world.” Taking over from Harold Augenbraum, Lucas will be the third person to lead the NBF. Chairman of the NBF David Steinberger says in the announcement, “Lisa Lucas is a dynamic leader who has served as a passionate advocate for […]
Briefs: Harper Pairs with Temple Hill, Final Days for St. Mark’s, and More
Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey’s film production company Temple Hill Entertainment has a new publishing agreement with HarperCollins in which the producers will “generate original ideas and opportunities for books and series,” that Harper will publish under the Temple Hill Publishing banner. Petersen Harris at Temple Hill will serve as their vp, publishing (he ran the Penguin Development Group before joining the production company in 2014, and is the son of Susan Petersen Kennedy and Bruce Harris), and the producers were represented by Writers House in the publishing deal. Temple Hill has produced adaptions of both YA (The Fault in Our Stars; Paper Towns, The […]
General Growth CEO “Clarifies” Amazon Comments In the Vaguest Way
CEO of mall operator General Growth Properties Sandeep Mathrani was forced to put out a statement Wednesday afternoon after generating a firestorm of media with his casual reference to Amazon’s “goal…as I understand” to open hundreds of physical bookstores. The funny part is that the statement is titled, “General Growth Properties CEO Sandeep Mathrani Clarifies Statement About Amazon,” while it actually clarifies nothing at all. It simply reiterates what already happened: “Mathrani has indicated that a statement he made concerning Amazon during GGP’s earnings conference call held on February 2, 2016, was not intended to represent Amazon’s plans.” Just as […]
Harvard Common Press Sold to Quarto; Put Me In the Story Expands at BN; More From Basford
Quarto has completed their acquisition of The Harvard Common Press, as of February 1, adding hundreds of titles to their backlist along with over 25,000 recipes. HCP will become an imprint of Quarto, with editorial and production run out of Quarto’s office in Beverly, MA and editorial director Dan Rosenberg keeping the same role. Harvard Common Press president and publisher Bruce Shaw and associate publisher Adam Salomone will no longer have daily operational positions, but will “remain in advisory roles with Quarto.” The two are partners at Salt Venture Partners, investing in food-related start-ups, and co-founders of The Food Loft. Shaw says in the announcement, “I’m pleased […]