Following Bertelsmann’s corporate conversion last week to a new corporate structure that could allow the offering of stock to the public without divesting much control, Germany’s Manager Magazin ran a piece with a grab-bag of rumor and speculation. (Though partially owned by Bertelsmann’s Gruner + Jahr, the magazine has a spotty track-record in their reports on coming events at Bertelsmann.) One item that Bertelsmann has at least partially confirmed is a report that the company wants to acquire the Jahr family’s 25.1 percent stake in Gruner + Jahr, possibly by swapping them a smaller stake in Bertelsmann itself or one of […]
International News
Amazon Launches Kindle Store in India
Amazon officially launched its Kindle store in India Wednesday, which will include more than 1 million titles and Kindle Direct Publishing options for authors. Amazon will also sell the bare-bones version of its Kindle devices for R6,999 at Croma retail stores across India. “We are proud to launch this new Kindle store for Indian customers – offering Kindle book purchases in rupees and the ability to buy and read the work of many great Indian authors,” vp Kindle Content Russ Grandinetti said in the release. “In addition, we are excited to work with Croma to make Kindle available at retail […]
People, Etc.: Macmillan’s New Children’s Publishing Venture in China
Macmillan and 21st Century Publishing House have joined forces on a new children’s publishing venture in China, Macmillan Century Consulting & Service Company Ltd. The new venture will acquire, develop, introduce and promote children’s titles sourced from Macmillan’s publishing companies and imprints around the world, and will be led by 21st Century Publishing president Zhang Qiulin and Macmillan managing director for Greater China Charlotte Liu. “We believe Macmillan Century is in a unique position at the outset, as it has the advantage of combining Macmillan’s carefully selected children’s classics and bestsellers with 21st Century’s strong distribution channels within the Chinese […]
Little Brown UK At Odds with Authors Over Tor’s DRM-Free eBooks
The industry debate over whether or not to remove DRM from ebooks has moved from philosophical and strategic differences of opinion to a potential contract (and territorial) dispute that threatens to strand some authors in the middle. On opposing sides are Little Brown UK–a substantial sci-fi and fantasy publisher through the Orbit imprint–and Tor, which shares some authors with Orbit, and lifted DRM from their entire list of ebooks as of July. Little Brown UK ceo Ursula MacKenzie corresponded recently with at least some agents, reportedly to express concern about the impact of Tor’s new DRM-free policy on LBUK’s publishing […]
Briefs: Thomas Nelson Pulls THE JEFFERSON LIES For Unverified Historical Details; Thinly-Veiled Sarkozy “Fable” Tops French Bestseller List; And More
Thomas Nelson announced they will withdraw publication of evangelical conservative David Barton‘s THE JEFFERSON LIES: Exposing the Myths You’ve Always Believed About Thomas Jefferson after concluding that “there were historical details — matters of fact, not matters of opinion, that were not supported at all.” Listings for the book have been removed from online retailers with a recall of physical copies underway, and the rights will be reverted to the author. But Barton tells The Tennessean that his only contact from the publisher “was an email saying it was canceled,” adding that “it was a complete surprise.’ Published in April […]
Hachette UK Reduces Education Division
In the UK, Hachette is realigning its education businesses. The health sciences and higher education lines are being sold to Taylor & Francis, the Bookseller reports. CEO Tim Hely Hutchinson tells the magazine, “they were sub-scale and could not compete with the major, much larger, publishers in the area. After exploring a number of options, we decided that selling them to Taylor & Francis was the best outcome.” The consumer education line is being moved into Hodder & Stoughton. In accompanying personnel changes, Lis Tribe is being promoted to managing director of the reduced Hodder Education division and current ceo […]