Within minutes of each other, Amazon’s Kindle Store and Google Play launched in Brazil Wednesday evening–just as Kobo’s previously-announced Brazilian offering formally launched. The Play store includes titles by Brazilian authors as well as translations of international bestsellers, while the Kindle store sells their low-end device for R$299 ($143 US), along with 1.4 million ebooks, including more than 13,000 Portuguese-language ebooks by authors such as Jorge Amado, Lya Luft and Martha Medeiros. In addition, Kindle Direct Publishing and the various mobile apps are also available in Brazil. “We are excited to launch this new Kindle Store for Brazilian customers, offering […]
International News
eNews: Digital Romance Imprints from Cosmopolitan, Random House Australia
Cosmopolitan is partnering with Harlequin on Cosmo Red Hot Reads, a digital line that will publish two original ebooks every month starting in May 2013. The ebook romance novels, which will run approximately 30,000 words (to “appeal to readers on a variety of platforms, including mobile devices”), will bear both the Cosmopolitan and Harlequin logos on their covers. At least some will be written “by some of Harlequin’s bestselling authors.” “We are very excited to be Cosmopolitan’s partner in publishing and believe these stories will prove popular with women everywhere, especially new adult fiction readers,” Harlequin publisher and ceo Donna Hayes said […]
International: Random House Mondadori Buyout Completed; Harper Takes Full Control of India Division
Spanish antitrust authorities gave swift approval to Bertelsmann’s purchase of Mondadori’s 50 percent stake in the Spanish-language publishing company Random House Mondadori. The transaction officially closed Friday. As previously announced, Random House Mondadori will retain its corporate name for now, with no changes to its leadership, organizational structure, and publishing programs. HarperCollins announced it has taken full control of Harper India after nearly ten years of operating the division as part of a joint venture with English-language publisher Living Media India. The company says the move “marks a commitment to expansion by HarperCollins into the Indian market” and to “making […]
United Agents Completes Acquisition of AP Watt
The week’s second exhibit in literary agency consolidation: In the UK, United Agents has finalized their acquisition of venerable AP Watt, the Bookseller confirms, after first reporting on the talks in September. Only five members of AP Watt’s staff are joining United Agents in the transition, however, starting next week: Natasha Fairweather will join United Agents’ Robert Kirby as joint head of the literary department, and Linda Shaughnessy will serve as joint head of foreign rights. AP Watt executives Caradoc King and Derek Johns will also join United Agents as partners, and agent Jon Elek is staying with the group […]
eNews: Kobo Has A Date In Brazil; Nook App Updates; Amazon Sells Bonds (and Kindles)
Kobo will officially launch in Brazil under their previously-announced partnership with bookseller Livraria Cultura on December 5. The Brazilian version of the Kobo Touch device went on sale for pre-orders starting today at R$399 (or roughly $190 US). Nook has updated their iOS and Android apps in a variety of ways. Like the recently-added support to the Nook hardware for reading aloud books, the new version of their iOS app supports Apple’s VoiceOver technology (which also reads aloud to aid the visually-impaired). The Nook apps now support French, Italian, German, Spanish and British English, and they are available for download […]
Amazon Breaks Out UK Sales–At Nearly £3 Billion In 2011
The investigation by the UK’s House of Commons into multinational companies that pay little or no income tax to the British government on considerable revenues generated from UK customers has produced at least a little something tangible. Earlier in the month Amazon broke out for the first time sales from Amazon.co.uk over the past three years. (The committee document–found via the Bookseller–suggests they thought it was provided “on a confidential basis.”) Amazon’s UK sales were £2.910 billion in 2011; £2.360 billion in 2010; and £1.865 billion in 2009. Their Luxembourg subsidiary collected and remitted £416 million in UK VAT in […]