Encyclopedia Britannica will no longer publish print editions after more than 244 years of doing so, the NYT first reported Tuesday with an advance look at the press release, with the 32-volume set published in 2010 deemed to be its last-ever. (That edition has sold just 8,000 copies, a far cry from Britannica’s peak in 1990, when 120,000 sets sold; there are another 4,000 copies of the 2010 edition still sitting in the company’s warehouse.) Instead Britannica will concentrate on its online business and a wide range of editorial products, including several different digital versions of Encyclopedia that has, to […]
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Dorchester Says It’s Entertaining Offers From “Reputable” Houses
Following up on our report last week on the Dorchester’s deep financial woes and foreclosure by its owner John Backe, company ceo Robert Anthony sent a letter to authors and agents, obtained by Kristin Nelson and republished on her blog, with further information about the sale process and the status of their office. In the letter Anthony said that Dorchester “has not closed” but due to “challenging economic conditions” they are vacating their offices at 200 Madison Avenue to “become a virtual business,” with a delivery box on East 34 Street. “Though the transition was not as seamless as we […]
Dorchester’s Office Closed, Assets To Be Auctioned After Owner Forecloses
Dorchester Publishing, plagued by financial troubles for years and having recently divested itself of its remaining editorial staff, appears to be marching towards an ignoble end after more than 40 years in business. In a twist worthy of Dorchester’s tortured road to collapse, the publisher’s owner is the one foreclosing, on a personal basis, against the company itself, and will collect the proceeds from the sale of at least some of its property–raising questions about whether any assets will remain to pay creditors. On February 28, John Backe filed a notice of foreclosure after failing to collect on an outstanding […]
Doubts About Veracity Cloud Deborah Feldman Memoir
Deborah Feldman’s memoir UNORTHODOX, detailing her Satmar Hasidic upbringing and how she eventually broke from it a few years ago, was no stranger to controversy even before its February 14 publication date. Close-knit communities are almost never happy about having their customs aired to a larger public, especially by someone, like Feldman, whose book details many grievances she had with her onetime way of life. Prominent appearances on “The View” and a feature article in the New York Post likely exacerbated matters. But post-publication a number of serious charges have emerged as to whether UNORTHODOX stretched the truth on multiple […]
Figment To Acquire Teen Writing Site Inkpop From HarperCollins; OverDrive Will Distribute Harry Potter eBooks to Schools and Libraries
HarperCollins is selling off teen writing website Inkpop, which it created in 2009, to Figment for an undisclosed sum. The move, the WSJ reports, reflects HarperCollins’ conclusion that “the benefits of marketing its titles to a significantly larger combined audience outweigh the advantages of controlling its own teen writing website.” In three years of operation Inkpop built up a base of approximately 95,000 users, while Figment has more than 115,000 teens using its site, with “non-existent overlap” between the two groups, according to Figment co-founder Jacob Lewis. Figment will assume control of inkpop’s operations, activity, and website as of March […]
Corporate: Book Printers Edwards Brothers & Malloy Merge; CodeMantra Buys Preparé Inc
Ann Arbor, MI-based book manufacturers Edwards Brothers and Malloy have merged to form the US’s sixth-largest book printer. The new company, now called Edwards Brothers Malloy, has combined sales of $115 million and will have three offset facilities—Edwards Brothers’ plants in Ann Arbor, MI, and Lillington, NC, and Malloy’s operation in Ann Arbor—along with 11 digital print plants in the United States, Canada, and the UK. Edwards Brothers president and ceo John Edwards will be ceo of the merged company, with Malloy president Bill Upton continuing as vp operations and Joe Upton remaining as vp sales and marketing. Edwards said […]