Kobo is joining with Mexican publisher and retailer Libreria Porrúa (with almost 70 bookstores) and bookstore chain Gandhi (with close to 30 stores) to power a new ereading service for Mexican readers called Orbile. They plan to launch an ebookstore in September with a catalog that will include over 70,000 titles. Both Porrúa and Gandhi will sell Kobo devices in their stores. Separately, the New York City Board of Education has a pending three-year contract with Amazon for ratification that will pay the etailer at least $30 million for ebooks selected by individual schools. Amazon will also build a “unified ebook storefront” for the […]
International News
Von Moltke Promoted At Penguin Random House; Australian Cookbook Imprint Curtailed
Nina von Moltke has been promoted to the new position of evp, director, publishing development and author platforms at Penguin Random House, continuing to ceo Markus Dohle, and she joins the Penguin Random House North America board as well. Now reporting to von Moltke are Peter Gethers in his role as president of Penguin Random House Studio and John Schline, svp, corporate director, business affairs in his role overseeing the contracts department, as they “bring the contracts teams across Penguin Random House even more closely together.” She continues her other responsibilities as well, including oversight of Penguin Random House Audio and digital product development for apps and […]
Corporate: Holtzbrinck Will Also Drop DRM In Germany; BookTrack Raises More
A meaningful portion of the big ebook publishers in Germany — where Kindle has lower market share than in many other developed ebook markets — is moving away from formal DRM to digital watermarking instead. Holtzbrinck’s trade imprints are the latest to make the move, as of August. Their lines include Droemer Knaur, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Rowohlt and S. Fischer. Bonnier Germany dropped DRM on their ebooks as of July 1, and other German publishers of note including dtv, Hoffman & Campe, and Luebbe gave up DRM earlier in the year. Separately, Booktrack has raised an additional $5 million in Series B financing, with the […]
People, Etc.
Wendy McCurdy will return to Kensington, as editorial director, starting August 3. She was previously an executive editor at Berkley and prior to that a senior editor at Bantam Dell after starting her career at Kensington’s Zebra Books. Philip Turner has returned to his roots as a bookseller, working at the new Rizzoli Bookstore in New York, which opens on July 27. He continues to operate his editorial service and publishing consultancy Philip Turner Book Productions as well. Mark Thomas has joined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt as senior vice president of engineering, based in New York, leading global software development and driving the effective delivery of HMH’s digital products. He reports to […]
New Leadership for Jonathan Cape
In the UK, Jonathan Cape publishing director Dan Franklin will step down at the end of year, with current Harvill Secker deputy publishing director Michal Shavit taking over from Franklin. Current editorial director Alex Bowler will move up to deputy publishing director, and Robin Robertson will be associate publisher. Franklin will take the title of associate publisher in January 2016 and “will continue to look after all his current authors,” working three days a week. Shavit will report to Vintage managing director Richard Cable in her new position, and a new editorial director for Harvill Secker “will be appointed in due course.” Cable […]
RCS Weighing Formal Buyout Offer from Mondadori, As Three Italian Agencies Merge
Catching up on news from last week, Italy’s Mondadori Libri formalized their initial February offer to buy their biggest competitor, RCS Libri. The proposed price was not announced, but the Italian press says the offer was for 135 million euros (after a range of 125 million to 150 million euros had been tipped earlier this year). The RCS board issued a statement saying it “reviewed the offer received” while indicating it “reserved all its rights in regard to evaluating the offer, also taking into account wider considerations regarding the strategic outlook for the group.” For 2014, RCS Libri had sales of 222.6 […]