Chicago Review Press has acquired Academy Chicago Publishers for an undisclosed sum (though a spokeswoman for the purchaser cited a “six-figure price”) which will have Chicago Review Press publishing original fiction for the first time. They expect to immediately begin publishing fifteen to twenty new titles annually under the Academy Chicago imprint. Jordan and Anita Miller, who founded ACP in 1975, will work as editors at-large for Chicago Review Press for the next two years, and IPG will distribute all Academy Chicago Publishers books, including their backlist of approximately 300 titles. Chicago Review Press publisher Cynthia Sherry said in the announcement: “Our two companies have […]
Finance
Macmillan Acquires Cookstr; Schwalbe Named to Executive Role
Macmillan has acquired six-year-old recipe web site Cookstr for an undisclosed sum, in a deal advised by Headwaters MB. Co-founder Will Schwalbe will stay with the site as its leader and takes on the additional role of evp, editorial development and content innovation for Macmillan, acquiring books across the company’s publishing imprints. He will report to global trade coo Andrew Weber. (Cookstr’s director of editorial and partnerships Kara Rota continues to report to Schwalbe.) According to the announcement, Cookstr now attracts over 8 million unique visitors a month. It was founded in 2008 by Schwalbe and Katie Workman, along with Art Chang at Tipping Point […]
Kensington Acquires Digital Publisher Lyrical Press
Kensington has acquired digital publisher Lyrical Press, which has published more than 250 romance, YA, and other genre titles. They will operate it as a digital-first imprint under the oversight of Adam Zacharius, Kensington’s director of special projects and alternative media. Lyrical Press founder Renee Rocco will remain with the imprint as managing director. All books published by the imprint will be DRM-free, with print-on-demand editions available for titles that exceed 60,000 words. Kensington ceo Steven Zacharius said in the announcement that he had been looking to acquire “a digital imprint that works efficiently like a small independent press.” He […]
Harper UK Discloses Sales
Harper UK filed their annual report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2013 with Companies House. Reports from the UK miss the larger context, which is that the parent company reported results for the same period months ago in the US. What’s useful, then, is disclosure of the division’s share of the publisher’s sales. Harper had full-year sales of $1.369 billion and EBITDA of $142 million. Harper UK reported sales of £190.6 million (up £8 million), as pre-tax profit fell to £2.8 million from £8.3 million. At June 30, 2013 conversion rates, Harper UK’s sales were about $290 million. (The UK market […]
Briefs: Authors Guild To Appeal Google Book Search Ruling; Rowling Leak Lawyer Fined; and More
On December 23 the Authors Guild and the named author plaintiffs filed notice with New York federal court that it intends to appeal Judge Denny Chin’s November 14 dismissal of the case on fair use grounds. The AG was told on December 10 that it had two weeks to file an appeal, and did so right on schedule. Meanwhile, Apple and the Department of Justice continue to square off over the effectiveness of independent monitor Michael Bromwich, with the DOJ filing a 30-page rebuttal to Apple’s request for a stay after it accused Bromwich of charging too much, taking up […]
Briefs: A Harry Potter Play, Hachette UK’s New Office, and a Microsoft Employee Who Leaked Nook Deal
JK Rowling will co-produce a Harry Potter play intended to debut on London’s West End in 2015, and will collaborate with a playwright on the show, which will focus on “the previously untold story of Harry Potter’s early years as an orphan and outcast.” Already a year in “gestation,” it will be produced by veterans Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender. Rowling said their pitch “was the only one that really made sense to me, and which had the sensitivity, intensity and intimacy I thought appropriate for bringing Harry’s story to the stage.” As announced in September, Rowling is also working on […]