A Lakeside Book Company book manufacturing facility in north Harrisonburg, VA caught fire on Monday, Rocktown Now reports. The fire started around 9:30 AM in an air-handler unit and extended to the roof. All employees were evacuated. Emergency personnel put out the fire and staff were able to return to the building by 11 AM. There were no injuries, and Lakeside said that the accident will not affect printing or distribution. “Thanks to the quick response by our associates and the local fire department, no one was injured, and damage to the facility is minimal,” a Lakeside spokesperson said. “We […]
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Amazon Is Loosening Its DRM Policy for Kindle
Starting January 20, Amazon is loosening its digital rights management (DRM) policy for Kindle, and will allow authors using Kindle Direct Publishing to offer DRM-free books for download in EPUB or PDF format. Previously, the company had made downloading books difficult and earlier this year removed the ability of users to download and transfer titles using USB. The new policy will only impact titles marked as DRM free starting December 9, and not any before that. Most titles in the Kindle store will remain protected by DRM. Some authors are opting to remove the DRM-free status, as they don’t want […]
Social App Reading Report Shows Personal Recommendations Lead Discovery
Social reading app Fable and digital subscription service Everand released their State of Reading Report, an analysis of reading trends based on a survey of more than 1600 users. More than half of respondents report reading more this year than last. Fable also notes that personal recommendations have risen and are the dominant mode of discovery, over finding their next read on ebook and audiobook platforms. “Sometimes, humans get it better than machines,” Fable says in a release. “Many readers say algorithms and search tools don’t quite get their tastes – what some describe as a ‘discovery crisis.’ They want […]
Chernin Group Invests in Entangled, Valued At $400 Million, to Expand IP
Investment firm The Chernin Group has purchased a minority stake in Entangled. Entangled co-founder and ceo Liz Pelletier retains majority ownership and “maintain[s] full creative control,” a release states. The deal values Entangled at approximately $400 million, sources tell the WSJ. That puts Entangled in league with Sourcebooks for helping to break long-established precedents on cracking the highest echelons of trade publishing. (And the two are joined by the smaller Zando as a trio of independently run, female-led publishers growing at high rates.) A release states that the partnership will allow Entangled’s IP “to expand into global multimedia franchises spanning […]
Raccah on Passion and Innovation
On the Open Book podcast, Sourcebooks founder and ceo Dominique Raccah discusses how her business is built on data analysis. Raccah told host David Steinberger that she attributes the publisher’s success to “math.” “So I’m personally both a passionate reader and a data nerd,” she said. “That mix has shaped Sourcebooks from the very beginning. I read broadly…and the reader in me will ask things like, well, why does this story matter? And on the other hand, the statistician in me wants to know about impact. How do we make books resonate? How do readers discover story? How do we […]
Scholastic to Net Over $400 Million In Sale of Office and Warehouse Spaces
Scholastic has agreed to sell its NYC headquarters and its primary warehouse in Jefferson City, MO, transactions which are estimated to net the company $401 million. The company will lease back the spaces from the owners and continue operating there, “while substantially reducing its footprint” in the New York building. The deals are expected to close before the end of the year, and Scholastic plans to use the funds for stock buybacks and to pay down debt. As of the most recently reported quarter, Scholastic carried $331 million in long-term debt and lines of credit. “Today’s announcement reflects meaningful momentum […]