Yes we’re jumping ahead to name the new oversized Kindle that everyone is presuming Amazon will introduce at tomorrow morning’s press conference (and I already like our name better than the Kindle DX moniker Engadget floats. After we reminded folks yesterday that the first wave of media hype focused on the SK’s potential for newspapers and magazines and forgot that the early rumor was it’s aimed at the textbook market, the second wave has washed ashore via Bloomberg and then the WSJ. Sources for the two accounts agree that Princeton, Reed College, part of the University of Virginia, Arizona State […]
People and Awards
Sheila Keenan joins Abrams tomorrow as senior editor, working on the Abrams ComicArts list, reporting to executive editor Charles Kochman. Most recently she was at Scholastic, where she helped launch their Graphix comics imprint. At the Penguin Group, Allison McLean has been promoted to associate director of publicity for Portfolio and Sentinel. She joined Portfolio in 2002, before the line formally launched. At Little, Brown Children’s, Lauren Hodge has been promoted to assistant editor. Bertelsmann has put Christa Gomez on the company’s supervisory board as employee representative. Aside from two women from the controlling Mohn family, Gomez is the only […]
The Google Book Search Conundrum: You Can't Make Everyone Happy
With the extended deadline for filing objections to the proposed settlement of lawsuits over Google Book Search, you can expect a long line of dissent in days to come. The most recent filing is “comments” from the American Library Association and the Association of College and Research Libraries. The larger problem here is that no solution–legal (via approval, rejection, or suggested modification of the settlement), legislative, or even business-driven–will make all parties happy. The original project, audacious as it was (and remains), appalled some and left others disappointed, and that will remain irreconcilable. As the libraries make clear in their […]
People and More
Publishing veterans Gretchen Koss and Meghan Walker recently formed themarketing and publicity firm Tandem Literary. They had been colleaguesat Random House until last December at Spiegel & Grau, where Koss wasdirector of publicity and Walker was director of marketing. The newcompany “will work collaboratively to tailor a campaign that complementsthe publisher’s plans and enhances a book’s visibility across a wide variety of platforms.” Author of THE WOMEN’S ROOM Marilyn French, 79, died Saturday of heart failure.NYT obit Cambridge University Press has reduced their plan to cut approximately165 jobs in the UK down to 58 layoffs. Another 25 people have left […]
More eReader Madness
Amazon will hold a press conference on Wednesday morning at a PaceUniversity building (on the site of old NYT offices), presumably todebut a version of Kindle with a larger screen. At one point the mediahad decided the rumored bigger Kindle would be aimed at theeducational/textbook market, but now they’ve decided it’s focused ondisplaying magazines and newspapers, trying to beat Plastic Logic andother devices in development to market. “People briefed on the plans”tell the NYT that the New York Times is “expected to be involved in theintroduction of the device,” but a spokesperson for the New York Timesdeclines to comment. Meanwhile, […]
Lunch Weekly for Monday, May 4
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 Phillip Margulies’s epic debut BELLE CORA, based loosely on the life […]