Following quickly on their partnership with Macmillan on “long tail” backlist, Ingram has announced a broader new initiative with Springer in which the wholesaler will take over Springer’s entire US supply chain. Ingram will manage warehousing and fulfillment for Springer and will transition manufacturing to a model that focuses on print-on-demand. Initially Ingram will hold all of Springer’s physical inventory in their warehouses; as that inventory sells down, Ingram will move replenishment from offset to print-on-demand “when it makes the most economic sense.” The program begins in the first quarter of 2011. Springer evp of customer service, fulfillment and logistics […]
The Non-Story that Won’t Stop: Larsson’s Unpublished Book
Publishers and fans of Stieg Larsson won’t let go of the idea that a nearly-finished manuscript in the bestselling Millennium series might be published some day, even though those in a position to control its fate keep saying it won’t. The latest installment was a hyped CBS Sunday Morning interview with the late Larsson’s father Erland and brother Joakim, who control the author’s estate (over the continuing objections of Larsson’s partner, Eve Gabrielsson. But “the Larssons say they won’t publish the book even if it surfaces.” Which is what Publishers Lunch reported in June 2009, when Joakim Larsson told us […]
eBriefs: McGraw-Hill’s Custom Course Content; China to Grow eBook Industry; and More
On Friday McGraw-Hill Education formally announced a new custom course-content publishing platform that lets professors create their own compilations of material that are available for sale to their students. Instructors can search across over 4,000 McGraw-Hill textbooks plus tens of thousands of articles, case studies and other materials. They can view either a “digital proof” or a mailed print review copy of their custom compilations. The final collections are sold to students as ebooks through the company’s ebookstore, and as printed books through campus bookstores. They started rolling out the program in April.Release China’s General Administration of Press and Publication […]
People, Etc.
Karen Thompson has been promoted to editor at the Simon & Schuster adult trade imprint, both acquiring her own list as well as looking to “maximize and revitalize parts of the backlist.” Erica Gelbard has been promoted to publicity manager at Grand Central. The UK Crime Writers Association gave its awards to Belinda Bauer‘s author BLACKLANDS for best crime novel; Simon Conway‘s A LOYAL SPY for best thriller, and Ryan David Jahn‘s ACTS OF VIOLENCE for a previously-unpublished author. Bauer is the only of three who is currently in print in the US. But like some of the Booker-shortlisted books, […]
The Big Events’ Non-Events
With digital discussion and diminished expectations for future print sales ever more present at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair, the crystallizing moment came down to this: the Nobel prize was given to a well-known, widely-translated author with a big backlist–but none of those many English editions are available as ebooks. I don’t think that’s a statement you’ll hear again in the future, and it encapsulates many of the dichotomies and conflicts of the current transitional moment. (Since the Carmen Balcells Agency has been reluctant to grant those rights, no English ebook editions are currently expected.) It will be interesting to […]
E-News: Wylie Reaches Deal with French Publishers; Concerns Over E-Books As Territory Rights-Breakers; And More
Andrew Wylie has evidently resolved the digital rights dispute with French publishers, which led to an open letter sharply critical of the agent’s practices of keeping e-rights (without mentioning Wylie by name.) “The story is ancient history. It is all solved. We have spoken to the French publishers involved,” Wylie told The Bookseller. Flammarion chief executive Teresa Cremisi said: “Everything will be resolved. It was like a summer fever–amazing. But he has now abandoned his project and that is a good thing.” The Bookseller In other e-rights news, agent Andrew Nurnberg voiced his concern that some American publishers may try […]