With the three-year dismantling of Bertelsmann’s once globe-spanning Direct Group essentially complete, capped by the sale last month of the French-language clubs to Najafi Companies, the unit will no longer stand as its own business division as of the end of June. Bertelsmann announced Wednesday that the remaining Direct Group businesses in German-speaking countries and Eastern Europe and their 50 percent interest in Spain’s Circulo de Lectores will be folded into Berteslmann Corporate Investments (which also includes BMG and digital media and Asian investment funds), reporting to Thomas Rabe. In addition, Bertelsmann is still exploring a possible sale and other […]
International News
Spain Gets a Big New eBook Player
Spanish telecom giant Telefónica announced on Tuesday that it is launching a new ebookstore and ereader in Spain beginning next week. The reader, called the Movistar BQ, a 169 euro model with the now standard 6-inch touchscreen and wifi, will go on sale in the company’s Movistar cell phone stores and in big box retailers across Spain on June 14, in hopes of catching on with readers this summer. Initially, the ereaders will provide access to about one thousand public domain titles stored in the Movistar eBook cloud store, with paid content to be added in the fall. El País reports the […]
Bookselling: Waterstone’s Deal To Close By End of June; Interest in Angus & Robertson; Store Closings; And More
As part of its announcement that it has secured more than £220 million in fresh financing, HMV has formally asked shareholders to approve the Waterstone’s sale to Alexander Mamut at the company’s next meeting on June 23. Newsagency franchise group SupaNews is reportedly about to bid on the Angus & Robertson franchise network and some shops owned by the administrators of REDGRoup Retail in a deal that would capitalize on “synergies” between the two entities. Interestingly, SupaNews is also owned by REDGroup, but that side of the business did not declare bankruptcy. The deal is contingent on SupaNews acquiring more […]
People: McCullough to Start Imprint at RH Canada, Conville & Walsh Launch Speakers’ Bureau; And More
Publisher of Whitecap Books since 2001, Robert McCullough will join Random House Canada on July 11 as publisher of a new imprint. The line will focus on “the type of lifestyle and food titles for Canada and the North American marketplace that he has published” in the past. The unit will draw on all of RH Canada’s shared services. It’s designed to grow to publish 15 to 20 titles a year. McCullough will remain based in Vancouver, and reports to president Brad Martin. UK literary agents Patrick Walsh and Clare Conville of Conville & Walsh are launching a speakers’ agency […]
UK Site Tries to Combine Kickstarter and Byliner Models
At the Hay literary festival over the weekend, writer Justin Pollard, publishing veteran John Mitchinson and Crap Towns author Dan Kieran launched Unbound.co.uk, a site that aims to serve as a mash-up of Kickstarter and Byliner for books. The Kickstarter part is a fan-sourced funding mechanism that solicits pledges to finance proposed, with a roster of benefits for contributions form £10 up to £250 (or the opportunity to bankroll an entire project). The Byliner part is that, once financed, the site also serves as the publishing platform–like it or not, as far as we can tell, and takes 50 percent […]
Digital Accelerates At Bloomsbury, Which Announces Digital Drama Library with Faber
Bloomsbury, which is readjusting its fiscal year, reported results for the 14 months ending February 28. Since the publisher already disclosed 12-month results recently, we’ll only delve into the highlights and what’s new. Their ebook sales continue to accelerate. They were £1.5 million for all of 2010, and have now registered £1.1 million for the first two months of 2011. Chief executive Nigel Newton says in the release, “This is an exciting time for Bloomsbury: demand for digital delivery, including e-books, is increasing significantly; it will change the publishing business model creating one worldwide market. The recent organisation change is […]