Princeton children’s bookstore Chicklet will close at the end of the month, as their landlord turns the space over to a tenant paying market rent.Princeton Packet In the same week that Figment.com has launched, Harper UK’s book social networking site BookArmy indicates it will close December 21. The Bookseller says an email to site members indicated “the decision has been made to close the site, after facing strong competition from similar sites and fewer advertising opportunities in such a tough economic climate.” The company tells the magazine that staff will be reassigned to their site Authonomy.
Wimpy Still Beats the Field
Abrams updated sales information on sales of Jeff Kinney’s new DIARY OF A WIMPY KID book, published four weeks, now with 6.5 million copies in print after three reprints. CEO Michael Jacobs says they have tracked nearly 2 million copies sold through the trade in the first four weeks, which “has exceeded all of our expectations in all markets.” Abrams also sells a considerable quantity of books in the school market through Scholastic’s book clubs and fairs (roughly equivalent to the trade market) but that sell-through is harder to track precisely in real-time. Those trade sales are up 35 percent […]
Apple’s Top Books, and Best Enhanced eBooks
As part of their iTunes Rewind 2010 lists, Apple picked “best of” 2010 ebooks across a variety of categories. Below are their overall best of the year selections, and the first-ever list of their picks for best enhanced ebooks: Best of the BestThe Emperor of All MaladiesThe Big Short, by Michael LewisNo One Would Listen, by Harry MarkopolosPacking for Mars, by Mary RoachThe Glass Rainbow, by James Lee BurkeSh*t My Dad Says, by Justin HalpernMatterhorn, by Karl MalantesThe Solitude of Prime Numbers, by Paolo GiordanoI Curse the River of Time, by Per PettersonRoom, by Emma DonaghueCleopatra, by Stacy SchiffThe Lonely […]
People, Etc.
Kobo has hired Pieter Swinkels as Director of Publisher and Industry Relations for Europe, leading the company’s expansion there. He was associate publisher of De Bezige Bij and publisher of Cargo in Holland. In his new role at Kobo, Swinkels will be responsible for driving forward Kobo’s ambitious expansion into the European market. The company notes “the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the Netherlands currently have the highest European Kobo user counts, but the company is quickly expanding its audience in Spain, Portugal and Italy.” The Gail Ross Literary Agency has changed its name to The Ross Yoon Agency. Agency […]
Canada’s Doubleday Book Club Closes As Direct Brands Unit Goes Bankrupt
Direct Brands’ Canadian unit DB Media has filed for bankruptcy and the administrator told employees yesterday that the unit is ceasing operations immediately and all jobs are terminated, putting about 100 people out of work. The Canadian book club operated as Doubleday Canada, and the other major unit used the Columbia House name. In an e-mail to the Toronto Sun, Direct Brands ceo Deborah Fine referred to it as a “strategic decision to close the Canadian operation.” To avoid any confusion, the Random House Canada underscored in a brief statement that their line “is very much in active business and […]
Amazon Says WikiLeaks Book Does Not Contain Cables
Shortly after yesterday’s Lunch went out, an Amazon spokesperson responded to our query about the Kindle ebook titled “WikiLeaks documents expose US foreign policy conspiracies: All cables with tags from 1- 5000.” The company says “this book contains commentary and analysis regarding recent WikiLeaks disclosures, not the original material disclosed via the WikiLeaks website.” That note was then appended to the Amazon UK listing for the book, and now Amazon has also appended to the book’s title, in all caps, [DOES NOT CONTAIN TEXT OF CABLES]. The spokesperson did not respond to our questions about why the book had been […]