Former Billboard and Hollywood reporter pbulisher and one-time ceo of IDG books John Kilcullen has joined web-based self-publisher FastPencil’s board of directors. Kilcullen is now a brand management consultant based in California.
Library Thing Publisher Pages
LibraryThing.com has launched a new free service, LibraryThing for Publishers, starting with Orbit, Zondervan and three other publishers. Open to all, the new feature is designed to let publishers “showcase their new titles and interact with the LibraryThing community.” The pages display bookshelves of the publishers’ titles, link to LT reviews, and more.DescriptionOrbit Books sample
Publish Film Sell?
The LAT claims that “a movie’s release often leads to only a small uptick in a tie-in book’s sales” while declaring the EAT, PRAY, LOVE tie-in “the big exception this year.” The interesting part is that the book returned to the top of the bestseller lists in late May, well in advance of the movie’s marketing campaign. Separately, Nielsen released a chart on sales for the Elizabeth Gilbert book, which recorded sales of 94,000 units in the week ending August 1 alone. Sales in 2010 of 721,000 copies are more than double last year’ sales (and the movie release August […]
Indigo Sales and Losses Both Rise, As Kobo Costs Weigh
First quarter results of Canada’s biggest bookseller–or “largest book, gift and specialty toy retailer” as they now describe themselves–Indigo carry an echo of what Barnes & Noble faces right. Same-store sales at their superstores rose by 1.5 percent, while smaller-store comps declined just 0.7 percent and overall sales of $204.3 million (CA) were up $10.7 million or 5.5 percent from a year ago. But their online sales remain flat in the face of Amazon’s growing strength in Canada and the net loss more than doubled, from $2.3 million to $5.3 million. CEO Heather Reisman says “the increased loss is not […]
eNews: Houghton Negotiates with Pat Conroy to Allow Release of Open Road Backlist eBooks, and More
The stalemate over electronic rights to some of Pat Conroy’s backlist titles has been resolved and Open Road is going ahead with ebook release of the titles that they announced almost a year ago. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt spokesperson Lori Glazer tells the AP, “in this instance we negotiated an agreed-upon separation of print from electronic, to our mutual satisfaction.” Arthur Klebanoff at Rosetta Books, who had published an ebook version of The Prince of Tides, says: “Did I want to renew this license? The answer is ‘Yes.’ But until the arrival of the Kindle, you had a tiny, tiny marketplace. […]
Hitchens Interviewed
The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg conducts a video interview with Christopher Hitchens at his home in Washington, DC. Hitchens comments, “there are bad days, and there are worse days.” He reveals that the esophogeal cancer for which he is being treated has spread to his lymph nodes. “It’s not a good cancer to get…. I would be a very lucky person to live another five years.”Video