Hachette Book Group‘s planned relocation has become real estate news via Crain’s, which confirms the publisher’s lease of space at 1290 Sixth Avenue for occupancy some time next year. They are taking over a chunk of two floors recently vacated by Microsoft. The move will put them across the street from their old home in the Time-Life Building (and just north of Simon & Schuster). Booknet Canada and Nielsen have released a study (as a pdf) of the lift in sales of works by Alice Munro after she was named the Nobel Laureate in Literature in October. (The prize was […]
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Amazon Acquires AudioGo’s UK Catalog; Kindle Paperwhite Rumors; and More
Amazon has a licensing deal to publish the UK back catalog of bankrupt audiobook publisher AudioGo, according to the Sunday Times. The deal gives Amazon (which owns Audible) access to at least 5,000 titles from the company previously known as BBC Audiobooks. In Amazon rumor news, TechCrunch says the company’s next Kindle Paperwhite will be sold in the second quarter of 2014 and will include a high-resolution 300 ppi screen, custom typography, and an ambient light sensor. A new BBC documentary set to air Monday evening provides a behind-the-scenes look at the working conditions of one of Amazon’s UK-based warehouses, […]
Still Going: Amazon Rebuts Line in Brad Stone’s Statement
After The Everything Store author Brad Stone responded on Bloomberg Businessweek to MacKenzie Bezos’s one-star review of his book at Amazon.com, Amazon spokesman Craig Berman took issue with Stone’s post. Referring to Stone’s line, “Bezos said that he married MacKenzie after searching for someone tenacious enough to break him out of a Third World prison,” Berman calls it, “Entertaining, and inaccurate. Mr. Bezos says ‘resourceful’ – not ‘tenacious.’ Mr. Stone knows that. He also knows that the correct word doesn’t work quite as well for his purpose. “Resourceful” and “tenacious” mean different things. They also have subtle connotations. You might […]
Kobo Kleans Up
Well reported is an email from Kobo chief content officer Michael Tamblyn to authors in their self-publishing program Kobo Writing Life, providing an update on their now-completed review and cleansing of their title catalog. “The review had to happen fast, and we didn’t enjoy it, but with our esteemed 300-year-old retail partner on the front page of major newspapers and some content clearly in violation of our posted standards, we needed to move quickly.” Tamblyn makes clear, “For those few titles that remain unavailable, some feel that we chose a path of censorship. All I can say is that if […]
BISG’s Mission Moves From Books to Content
At today’s Book Industry Study Group annual meeting in New York, board chair Ken Michaels unveiled the 40-year-old organization’s new and expanded mission statement after months of work: “BISG’s mission is to facilitate innovation and share solutions for the benefit of all companies and practitioners that create, produce and distribute published content, and the organizations that support them.” That new statement quite specifically omits the word “book,” which tells you something about the likelihood of a name change on the way for the organization as well. Towards the end of the presentation Michaels noted BISG “really isn’t a group that […]
Simon & Schuster, Barnes & Noble Resolve Terms Dispute
After more than eight months of contention, Barnes & Noble and Simon & Schuster have resolved their terms dispute, which agents, authors and some at the publisher itself say resulted in significantly reduced orders and display of S&S books in the bookseller’s stores since January. In a joint statement both Barnes & Noble and S&S said they “look forward to promoting great books by Simon & Schuster authors.” A letter to authors and agents from ceo Carolyn Reidy elaborated a little more on the resolution. Reidy thanked them for their support “during this most difficult period”, adding that she and […]