Yesterday the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from John Steinbeck’s son Thomas and grandson Blake Smyle of last year’s Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that left control of the author’s copyrights with his widow Elaine and publisher Penguin under the terms of a 1994 agreement. In a statement, Thomas Steinbeck expressed “profound disappointment,” adding that “the Supreme Court could have protected all the authors and artists in America from a future of intellectual bondage to big corporate publishers.” He insists the denial does “not mean that the Second Circuit was correct, it only means that the Supreme […]
The eBook Pricing Problem
Over the weekend the NYT ran a week in review piece looking at the surface issues and concerns for both readers and publishers as a result of Amazon’s efforts to make $9.99 the standard ceiling for new and popular hardcovers in ebook versions. Author David Baldacci says “unfortunately there won’t be anyone selling it anymore because you just can’t make any money.” Simon & Schuster ceo Carolyn Reidy asserts that “what a consumer is buying is the content, not necessarily the format.” And Harper ceo Brian Murray says “If prices come down but the overall market is bigger, then we […]
People
Variety says that co-chief operating office of the William Morris Agency’s New York office Wayne Kabak is among approximately 100 staff members who are losing their jobs in advance of the pending merger with Endeavor. They note that the FTC and Justice Department have signed off on the merger, though the deal still needs approval from state labor commissioners in New York and California.Variety At Little Brown Children’s, Diane Cain has been hired for the new position of brand marketing director, James Patterson, reporting to deputy publisher Andrew Smith. Most recently she was executive director of marketing at Harper Children’s. […]
Lunch Weekly for Monday, May 18
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 Mark Keating’s THE PIRATE DEVLIN, a swashbuckling historical naval adventure set […]
Scribd Launches Paid Model
Having built a large audience for free documents, Scribd.com launches their beta Scribd store today with a model for paid written content that gives rightsholders 80 percent of the revenue. Scribd also lets rightsholders set the prices for their content, with current offerings ranging from $1 up to $5,000 (for market research report on China). Among participating publishers noted in the release are Lonely Planet, Berrett-Koehler and O’Reilly. The store is currently available only in the US though the company promises “international launches to follow.” They will add an iPhone app shortly. Since Scribd displays documents of all lengths, the […]
Book Comps Rise at Hastings, Even As Overall Results Fall
First quarter sales at Hastings fell $6.2 million, or 4.7 percent, to $126 million, while net earnings were nearly halved, at $1.7 million. But same-store sales for books actually rose slightly–by 0.2 percent on an absolute basis, or by 1.7 percent if you account for the extra day of sales in the quarter last year (on February 29). Though the benefits may not have gone to book publishers, since the company says “strong sales of used and value books, as well as strong sales of new hardbacks were offset by lower sales of magazines.”Release