It was within a block of the West Side’s fragrant horse and carriage stables that Amazon set up tent this morning–literally with a large, air-conditioned tent on the street as a holding pen for press-conference visitors–to introduce their new devices: the Kindle Fire tablet, the new line of Kindle Touch ereaders, and an inexpensive version of its original Kindle model. Bloomberg jumped the gun by about 25 minutes quoting unnamed Amazon executives about the specs, but Wednesday’s press conference made it official: the Kindle Fire Tablet will have a 7″ full-color touchscreen and Wi-Fi, weigh 14.6 ounces, and will retail […]
eNews: Bloomsbury Reader Launches To Rescue OOP Works
As announced in May, Bloomsbury has launched their digital and POD imprint for out-of-print works, Bloomsbury Reader. Called a “digital global publisher,” their initial list of roughly 560 books focuses on authors and estates represented by their “founder partner” PFD/The Rights House, though they continue to invite the participation of other estates and agencies. Ingram has a new partnership with logistics company SBS Worldwide to provide their client publishers with greater supply chain visibility on their titles. The two companies will “also consolidate on major freight lanes and offer competitive rates on global transportation.” Kobo announced a new update to […]
People, Etc.
Hector Sierra has been promoted to general manager and svp for National Geographic’s book publishing group, responsible for overseeing business operations and global sales for all categories of National Geographic’s trade and digital books. He was chief operating officer for the division, having joined National Geographic in 2000. F+W Media group marketing director Kate Rados was one of two people honored as MinOnline’s marketers of the year. Robert Wheaton will join Random House Canada in the newly created position of vp, director, strategic business development, reporting to ceo Brad Martin. Wheaton was previously director of inventory management for Indigo Books […]
Briefs: Amazon Lights a “Kindle Fire” Under Its Tablet; Quercus Sales Fall From Larsson Ebb; and More
Multiple reports (including this one from TechCrunch) indicate that Amazon’s tablet, which will be formally introduced at an event Wednesday morning, will be called the Kindle Fire, and will not be ready to ship until the second week of November. For the first six months of 2011, Quercus reported sales of 12 million pounds, down 20 percent from a year ago (largely due to a natural ebb in Stieg Larsson volume sales, which had boosted Quercus’s bottom line significantly for the past few years) though profits rose slightly to 3.4 million pounds during the same time frame. The cost of […]
Palin Accuses McGinniss of Defamation and “May” File Claim
Sarah Palin’s Anchorage attorney has written to Crown, saying that Joe McGinniss’s book THE ROGUE “defamed” the Palins and that both the publisher and author “clearly knew the statements were false [and] admitted they had no basis in fact or reality.” The letter advises “that a claim may be brought against you.” (Or national attention for the threat may turn out to suffice.) It also lays out an argument that would have to be made before a court that McGinniss somehow “waived the attorney client privilege” when he made a casual reference in an email to what the Random House […]
The Next Question on Assange Autobiography
After all of last week’s media attention–and ethical questions–over Canongate’s publication of their Julian Assange book against the author’s wishes, driven by the publisher’s admitted “financial imperative,” the serial fees from the Independent may turn out to be among the title’s leading sources of income. After its first three days on-sale, BookScan UK reports the book has sold just 644 copies, making it the 50th bestselling hardcover and the 537th bestselling book overall for that week. At Amazon UK the printed book (ranked 681) and the Kindle edition (ranked 1,176) continue to slide. That reception may also influence international publishers […]