Smashwords has adjusted their system to make it easier for literary agents to use the ebook distribution service. Their system now recognizes and allows agents to upload and manage clients’ titles as an authorized third party. (Up until now, the Smashwords paradigm made the uploader the “publisher,” a relationship that many agents did not want to accept.) In the new arrangement, agents can upload titles that will credit the author as the “publisher” and list the agency with an appropriate credit line in the metadata stream. Agents sign-up for a regular Smashwords account and then “upgrade” to Agent status. A […]
International News
People, Etc.
Jeff Umbro has joined Goldberg McDuffie Communications as digital marketing manager, integrating digital marketing into their overall communications strategies. He began his career with Appsolute Media, focused on social media marketing, content strategy and seo. Toronto’s Transatlantic Literary Agency has added three agents. Meghan Macdonald will work part-time, growing a list of adult fiction and non-fiction clients. She worked for David Grossman before joining TLA. Patricia Ocampo will represent children’s authors, after working in editorial at Harper Children’s and in sales and marketing at Hachette Book Group Canada. Amy Tompkins will share representation of international rights sales for Orca Book […]
People, Awards, Etc.
Molly Barton will move up to global digital director at Penguin as of December 1. She takes over from Dan Ruffino, who is returning home to Australia. At HarperCollins, Beth Silfin has been promoted to the newly created position of vp, deputy general counsel, responsible for overseeing the contracts department in working directly with literary agents on contracts and rights negotiations. As a result of the change in how the legal and contracts department is organized, vp, associate general counsel Tom Ward will leave the company after more than 15 years. In addition, Cindy DiTiberio has been promoted to senior […]
People, Etc.
At Random House Struik in South Africa, founding managing director Stephen Johnson will step down in March 2012, the end of the unit’s fiscal year, as he reaches retirement age. Johnson will become chairman of the company’s board in April. Current managing director of London’s New Holland Publishers (and a former Struik md) Steve Connolly will return to South Africa to run Random House Struik as of April. Nicola Way will join Harper Children’s UK as marketing director in January. She was most recently a board director at Iris Nation, a UK integrated marketing agency. Sumya Ojakli has been named senior […]
Trading Updates from Bertelsmann and WH Smith
Today is Bertelsmann’s turn for a brief, European-style third quarter trading update, with no breakouts by division. If you strip out the recent quarter by itself, sales of 3.575 billion euros were up 3%, and operating EBIT of 355 million euros was up 36 million euros, or 11 percent. For the year-so-far, sales are up slightly, and operating EBIT is down a little, with both of those categories performing better in the third quarter than earlier in the year. Release In the UK, WH Smith said in a brief update of their own that High Store sales declined 5 percent […]
Bookselling: BN Asked Justice to Investigate Microsoft; Australia Prepares to Reduce Import Ban to 14 Days
In documents filed with the International Trade Commission as part of the patent-infringement lawsuit brought by Microsoft, Barnes & Noble indicated that over the spring and summer they appealed to the Justice Department to investigate Microsoft on anti-trust grounds. “Microsoft’s willingness to bully small players with expensive litigation raises a substantial barrier to entry in any market in which it claims dominance,” general counself for BN Eugene DeFelice wrote, the WSJ reports. “Microsoft’s exorbitant licenses for its patents entrench the dominant players in the relevant markets because those players can afford to take a license, while small players cannot.” WSJ […]