In advance of any official reckoning between Apple’s reinterpreted rule requiring “that if an app offers customers the ability to purchase books outside of the app, that the same option is also available to customers from within the app with in-app purchase,” the makers of the iFlow Reader app are angrily throwing in the towel. BeamItDown Software publisher Philip Huber announced that the company and its ereading app will cease operations on May 31. They launched their ebookstore in December 2010 and say in a posted letter to customers that “two months later, Apple changed the rules and put us […]
Scott Moyers Leaves Wylie, Returns to Penguin Press As Publisher
Scott Moyers is leaving The Wylie Agency to rejoin Penguin Press, which he departed in 2007, on May 16. When Moyers left he was editor-in-chief and now he will serve as publisher. Ann Godoff remains as president, and according to the NYT she will take on the title of editor-in-chief as well (she had also been publisher). Current editor-in-chief Eamon Dolan will, as of Monday, become vp, executive editor. The line will be “expanding its frontlist by 50 percent in course of the next year,” from about 40 titles to approximately 60. The release makes a point of saying “the […]
Random UK Goes Agency; Ed Victor Launches Publisher; and More eNews
There is a lot of ebook news from the UK, today. Random House UK has adopted the agency model, following a similar move at the beginning of March in the US. As of today, the company’s approximately 6,000 ebook titles are available for sale through Apple’s iBookstore in the UK as a result. Random UK spokesperson Maureen Corish says “We were the only major English language trade publisher not to have our ebooks on sale via the iBookstore, so today’s announcement sees us forging a new commercial relationship as part of our commitment to increasing consumer choice and making our […]
Children’s Edition of ‘Heaven Is For Real’ Due In November, As Sony Acquires Film Rights
Thomas Nelson will publish a children’s edition of Todd Burpo & Lynn Vincent’s bestseller HEAVEN IS FOR REAL on November 9, priced at $14.99. The book has sold over 2 million copies and spent the past 17 weeks at #1 on the NYT non-fiction bestseller list. The new edition, titled HEAVEN IS FOR REAL FOR KIDS, will include illustrations by Wilson Ong, a Q&A for children and a prayer page. In related news, Sony Pictures has acquired film rights to the book, with Joe Roth and T.D. Jakes slated to produce. Roth told Deadline he became curious about HEAVEN IS […]
People, Etc.
Stephanie Hargadon joins St. Martin’s as senior publicist on May 16. Previously she was associate publicist at Macmillan Audio/Macmillan Young Listeners. In editorial promotions at Simon & Schuster Children’s, Kiley Frank has been promoted to associate editor at Atheneum; Amy Currier is assistant managing editor; and Emily Fabre is assistant editor, Margaret K. McElderry Books. In the art department, Giuseppe Castellano is now art director for Little Simon; John Daly is associate art director for Simon Spotlight; Jessica Handelman is associate art director for Pulse and Aladdin; Lauren Rille is associate art director; Laura Roode is senior designer; and Nick Sciacca […]
Thoughts from Makinson, Meacham
The WSJ interviews Penguin CEO John Makinson. On self-published Kindle bestsellers priced at $2.99 or less, Makinson says, “This is a new market that can’t exist economically in print. You can’t manufacture, ship and store a book at those prices. But we as publishers probably need to participate. We’ll look at new content that maybe we can popularize in different ways. We’ll also look at our backlist. Maybe there are customers for westerns at $1.99. What we need to be really careful of is ensuring that this new market doesn’t compromise the sales of Clive Cussler, Tom Clancy, Patricia Cornwell […]