Self-published thriller writer John Locke, who sold more than a million copies of his Donovan Creed novels primarily via Amazon (helped in part by the 99 cent ebook price of each series title) has found a large publisher to back him on the print side. Starting in February 2012, Simon & Schuster will handle sales and distribution for the print editions of Locke’s books under the banner of John Locke Books. The deal will allow Locke’s novels – the eight books already released, as well as newer titles to come — to be more widely available in brick-and-mortar stores (including […]
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Imprints: Night Shade Shuts Down Pugilist Press; Freehand Books Freezes Acquisitions
Night Shade Books has shut down its dark literary fiction imprint Pugilist Press, set to launch sometime this year, and the imprint’s editor-in-chief Juliet Ulman has left the company. Night Shade publisher Jason Williams said in an email that he shut the imprint down in order to concentrate on the company’s core business. “We started working on Pugilist at the beginning of 2010, when things were much more stable than they are now. In light of the current highly unpredictable and unstable publishing environment, launching a new imprint seems like poor reasoning. Especially a literary imprint, which is probably the […]
Vlahos Joins BISG As Executive Director on September 12
Len Vlahos will join the Book Industry Study Group as executive director, taking the position vacated earlier this year by Scott Lubeck. Vlahos has been coo of the American Booksellers Association since 2009, and has spent nearly 20 years with the organization. His last day with ABA is September 2, and he joins BSG on September 12. “All of us at ABA extend warmest congratulations to Len on his appointment as BISG’s new executive director,” said ABA CEO Oren Teicher in a statement. “To say the least, we will miss him a great deal, but we are delighted that the […]
McGraw-Hill Exploring Separation of Education Business
For years investors have disapproved of McGraw-Hill’s portfolio, which folds the S&P Credit Ratings Agency, Education, and other unrelated businesses under the same umbrella. Recent share pickups by activist hedge fund Jana Partners in tandem with the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund heightened calls for the company to break up, sell, or spin off some of its divisions – especially the education side, the largest group within the company. The WSJ first reported, with other outlets following with their own unnamed sources or “people briefed on the matter” that McGraw-Hill retained investment bank Evercore Partners to advise the company on a […]
Legal News: Another Appeals Case Rules First Sale Doctrine Is US-Only; ‘The Shack’ Lawsuit Finally Settled
Just a few weeks after the Ninth Circuit ruled in a case featuring Costco’s sale of imported Omega watches that the first sale doctrine does not apply to imported goods, another ruling this week from the Second Circuit more forcefully confirms this conclusion – and this time it involves book sales. In a 2-1 decision, the court said Supap Kirtsaeng violated Wiley’s copyrights when he sold cheap foreign editions of the publishers’ textbooks in the US because first sale doctrine does not apply to books sold outside of the country. Any other conclusion would undercut a law already on the books […]
RR Donnelley To Acquire LibreDigital
RR Donnelley announced today that it has acquired digital content distribution and e-service provider LibreDigital for an undisclosed sum. President and ceo Thomas Quinlan said in a statement that buying LibreDigital will “extend RR Donnelley’s reach across the breadth of the supply chain.” This is the second company Donnelley has purchased this week, having also bought Sequence Personal, a provider of proprietary software that enables readers to select relevant content to be digitally produced as specialized publications. Earlier this summer Donnelley also acquired online writer services company Helium and Journalism Online. “With this acquisition we uniquely position RR Donnelley to […]