Italian publishing giant RCS, which owns Rizzoli and Corriere della Serra, has confirmed what a number of stories out of Europe had been reporting for the past few days: they are exploring the possibility of selling off Flammarion in France, which it has owned since 2000. RCS said Friday in a statement obtained by Bloomberg that there will be a preliminary review of any expression of interest “in relation to assets not straightly included in the core business, comprising Flammarion, and non-core assets.” Earlier this week EconomiaWeb reported that Gallimard expressed an interest in buying Flammarion, with RCS seeking at […]
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Nancy Pearl Partners With Amazon For ‘Book Lust Rediscoveries’ Series
Amazon announced Wednesday morning that noted former librarian and frequent NPR contributor Nancy Pearl will launch a new curated line under the Book Lust Rediscoveries banner, reissuing out-of-print books originally published between 1960 and 2000 that Pearl had previously recommended in her title Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment and Reason. Part of the Amazon Encore imprint, the series will republish up to six titles a year in digital, paperback and audiobook editions starting in April with Merle Miller’s A GAY AND MELANCHOLY SOUND (originally published in 1961) and then in June with Rhian Ellis’s AFTER LIFE (originally […]
Corporate News: Scholastic Buys Learners Publishing; Bertelsmann Sells 50 Percent Stake in Pubbles to Weltbild
Scholastic announced Monday that its Singapore subsidiary acquired Learners Publishing, a Singapore-based publisher of supplemental English-language learning materials which has published more than 400 titles since its founding in 2000. “Through this acquisition, Scholastic’s offering of products in the English Language Learning segment is significantly enhanced,” Scholastic International president, growth markets Shane Armstrong said in the release. “Learners’ talented team and its list of outstanding titles will assist Scholastic in accelerating educational publishing growth in International markets.” Regulators approved Bertelsmann’s deal to sell half of its stake in German e-reading store/platform Pubbles to Weltbild for an undisclosed sum. The deal was […]
Bestsellers: ELF ON THE SHELF’S Rising Popularity; Big Sales for Tim Tebow
The AP looks at the rising popularity of the holiday picture book ELF ON THE SHELF, which has sold 2.5 million copies since its 2005 publication by CCA & B Publishers, the Marietta, GA-based publishing houses founded by ELF creators Carol Aebersold and her daughters Chanda Bell and Christa Pitts after a round of publisher rejections. CCA&B recorded $10 million in revenue in 2010 and now employs 25 people. “We used to have to stop people in the aisles at retail shows and explain what this was,” Pitts explained but now, “people are coming in and they already know. It’s […]
Macmillan Changes College Division Name to Macmillan Higher Education
As of January 1, Macmillan’s college education division, formerly known as the Bedford, Worth & Freeman Publishing Group, will be rebranded as Macmillan Higher Education. The group includes Bedford/St. Martin’s, W.H. Freeman, Worth Publishers, Hayden McNeil, and i>clicker. The K-12 Division will still operate under the Bedford, Worth & Freeman name. “This name change is indicative of our growing position as a global media company,” said ceo John Sargent in a statement. “Moving to Macmillan not only signifies our collective strength and the breadth of our offerings, but also allows us to more fully leverage our investments in print and […]
Authors: WIMPY KID’s Kinney Sues For Trademark Infringement; BN Ships Green’s FAULT OF OUR STARS Early
Author of the DIARY OF A WIMPY KID series Jeff Kinney filed a lawsuit Tuesday in a Boston federal court alleging that DIARY OF A ZOMBIE KID, published by Antarctic Press, “blatantly infringed [Kinney’s] intellectual property and diluted its trademarks.” (Kinney and his company trademarked the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” title and the name and look of the books’ main character with the US Patent & Trademark Office under “publications, namely a series of children’s books” in Class 16 and, “Board games; card games; plush toys; toy action figures; puzzles” in Class 28, respectively.) In addition to the “confusingly […]