As has been widely reported, HarperCollins announced Friday that for new titles released on or after March 7, library ebook vendors will be able to circulate these titles a maximum of 26 times before the license expires and libraries will need to buy a new license. The news first emerged in a letter from OverDrive CEO Steve Potash to member libraries, which at that point said the distributor was “required to accept and accommodate new terms for eBook lending as established by certain publishers.” The letter further noted that the new limits apply to “all eBook vendors or distributors offering […]
Bookselling: Waterstone’s Sales Talk; Foyles on the Move; Nontraditional Outlets; and More
Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut, who has increased his stake in Waterstone’s to more than 6 percent over the past few weeks, is now reportedly in talks with the company to buy the chain outright in a joint bid with founder Tim Waterstone. Mamut has hired Credit Suisse to assist in the potential bid. ThisIsMoney.co.uk Foyles will move its flagship space from its current home on 113-119 Charing Cross Road, where it has been since 1906, to a new store down the street sometime in 2013. The nearly 75,000 square foot space, almost double the present location, was bought by Foyle […]
People, Etc.
Wendy Pallot will join Bloomsbury as group finance director on April 8, taking over from Colin Adams. Pallot is currently chairman and one of the co-founding partners of a company operating a number of local radio stations. Betty Woodmancy has joined Howard Books as vp, associate publisher. A publishing veteran of over 20 years, she has worked for Integrity, B&H, Ingram, Thomas Nelson, and Sam’s Club and Walmart. Sally Brock has joined the company as a publicist; she was at Regnery. Sarah Landis will join Harper Children’s Books on February 28 as a senior editor, working primarily on teen fiction […]
Bloomsbury USA’s eBook Sales Jump to 40 Percent
Though Bloomsbury reported results for 2010 this morning, the company’s biggest news come informally out of Bloomsbury USA, where according to executive Evan Schnittman ebook sales jumped to comprise 40 percent of net sales in January 2011, up from 15 percent in December 2010. (That’s consistent with a recent report from Sourcebooks, in which they said their January ebook sales also jumped to 35 percent of sales.) Rising ebook sales and a Booker winner on the list helped Bloomsbury USA reach its “best performance ever,” with sales of 19.1 million pounds–up just 1.6 percent–but profit of 1.3 million pounds, up […]
Lunch Weekly for Monday, February 28
Deal Reports Just e-mail to deals@PublishersMarketplace if you aren’t using the online form linked below. Report a deal using the online form The Key As usual, the handy key to our Lunch deal categories. While all reports are always welcome, those that include a category will generally receive a higher listing when it comes time to put them all together. “nice deal” $1 – $49,000 “very nice deal” $50,000 – $99,000 “good deal” $100,000 – $250,000 “significant deal” $251,000 – $499,000 “major deal” $500,000 and up FICTION Debut Simon & Schuster editor and Columbia MFA grad Karen Thompson Walker’s […]
Four Publishers On Borders Creditors Committee; Real Estate Manager Expects Additional Stores to be Closed
The official committee of unsecured Borders creditors was formed yesterday, comprising representatives from Penguin, HarperCollins, Random House and Perseus, along with Sony Music, GGP, and Simon Property Group. Separately, Chain Store Age has an interesting interview with Andy Graiser, co-president of DJM Realty, which is marketing the leases on the stores that Borders is liquidating. He says they have been “getting interest from all categories of retailers,” adding “Borders competitors aren’t in the mix yet, but I’m sure they’ll be there.” Graiser believes that Borders will indeed exercise its option to close some additional stores beyond the 200 that are […]