Random House will publish former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s book TONY BLAIR: THE JOURNEY this September, via Hutchinson in the UK and Knopf and Knopf Canada in North America. The company says rights have been sold in twelve territories. (They acquired rights in October 2007.) Random UK ceo Gail Rebuck promises in the announcement that “his book is frank, open, revealing, and written in an intimate and accessible style. As an account of the nature and uses of power, it will have a readership that extends well beyond politics, to all those who want to understand the challenge of […]
Borders Reportedly Looking to Extend Credit Agreement
The folks at Debtwire–the same outfit, we should remember, that misreported a story earlier this year contending that some vendors had retained counsel to collect monies owed to them by Borders–has filed another long story, carried on the FT web site, about Borders’ credit issues. Close watchers of the company know that there have been two significant liquidity deadlines: their $42.5 million loan from principal owner Pershing Square is due April 1, and the revolving credit agreement that allows them to conduct business expires in July 2011. Getting that credit line renewed in today’s world of restricted lending, particularly since […]
People, Etc.
At Atlantic Books, Margaret Stead will join the company in late April as editorial director. She was previously editorial director of The Harvill Press. Current editorial director Caroline Knight has resigned, by will continue to work for the company after relocating to Kent. Barnes & Noble announced the winners of the 2009 Discover Great New Writers awards: Playwright Victor Lodato‘s debut novel MATHILDA SAVITCH (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), and Dave Cullen‘s COLUMBINE (Twelve). Daniyal Mueenuddin won The Story Prize for his collection In Other Rooms, Other Wonders. Chicago’s citywide reading program is still going strong, naming Colm Tobin‘s BROOKLYN as […]
Profits Rise at Harlequin As Currency Holds Down Sales
Harlequin’s parent company Torstar reported that the publishing unit had fourth quarter sales of $122 million (CA), down three percent from last year, but EBITDA jumped to $21.7 million, almost 40 percent higher than the $15.6 million a year ago. (And yes, that gives them EBITDA margin of of 17.8 percent.) They say “underlying” sales rose $2.6 million, while the strengthening Canadian dollar cost them $6.6 million. For the full year, sales of $493 million were up 4.3 percent over the previous year. EBITDA for the year was $88.2 million, up 22 percent.Release
Penguin's Makinson Demonstrates iPad Adaptations
Yesterday Penguin Group ceo John Makinson presented more of the company’s vision of how to present books on the iPad platform at conference. There vision is that they “will be embedding streaming audio, video and gaming into everything that we do.” Which means they are forsaking epub, which “is designed for narrative text but not this cool stuff that we’re talking about now” and “for the time being at least we’ll be creating a lot of our content as applications.” Makinson freely admitted that “we don’t understand at the moment what the consumer is prepared to pay for. We don’t […]
More eNews: iBooks Will Go International Once they Hire; Bloomsbury Expands Online Library, and More
* So far Apple has said the iBookstore and iBooks app will launch in the US only. But a company job listing has been spotted online seeking a manager “responsible for launching and growing the iBook business in Asia Pacific [later detailed as Australia, New Zealand and other countries] and Canada and building an extensive offering for customers.”Listing * In the UK, Bloomsbury has expanded their online library project and renamed it the Public Library Online, reflecting the new inclusion of books from other publishers. Joining them are Faber, Quercus, Canongate and Allison & Busby, “with more coming soon.” Built […]