Wordsmiths Books in Decatur “is just two weeks away from possible closure” according to marketing director Russ Marshalek, and is having a benefit this weekend to raise funds. Owner Zachary Steele says they suffer from an event with a well-known author “that required a massive up-front investment that didn’t pan out” as well as debt from the higher rent at their previous location. “The reality of Wordsmiths is that, though it began with a great push, it did so in the wrong location. That location drained its resources and left a lagging parachute of debt that we have been trying […]
Europe Develops e-Readers
Germany’s Spiegel reports that Deutsche Telecom is developing its own e-reading device to compete with the likes of Kindle and the Sony Reader (neither is currently sold in Germany). One engineer says their device is likely to be larger and have a flexible display. France Telecom’s Orange also has an electronic reading device in development.Story translated/summarized in Bookseller
Personnel: New CFO for B&T
Following the announced departure of James Melton, Baker & Taylor has hired Jeff Leonard as their new cfo and evp, starting later this month. Most recently he was vp, finance and treasurer at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, prior to which he spent seven years at Hughes Supply.Release
New Random UK Imprint
Random House UK’s CHA division will start Windmill Books, a literary paperback line drawing from the Heinemann and Hutchinson hardcover programs. Like the Arrow paperback line, the new imprint will be under publishing director Kate Elton, and aims to issue about 20 titles a year, comprising both nonfiction and fiction. Authors already published through CHA’s Vintage and Arrow will stay with their existing imprint. But CHA managing director Susan Sandon calls the new line “a key plank in CHA’s growth strategy.”B2B
Rushdie Threat Buys a Week
We scoffed, but UK publisher John Blake is postponing publication of ON HER MAJESTY’S SERVICE until August 11 so that Salman Rushdie can read the book. Founder John Blake tells the Bookseller, “We are hoping when he reads it, and sees that it’s fair, he will withdraw his objections. When he reads the whole thing, I’m sure he’ll feel it’s a great book . . . he’ll probably have a chuckle.” We’ll take that bet.Bookseller
Report Cites Rough Patches in Scholarly Presses' Transition to Online Access – Chronicle.com
The Chronicle of Higher Education looks at the just-published 2007 report of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, calling the essay on Scholarly Press Initiatives by Donald J. Waters and Joseph S. Meisel “a page turner.” The authors “confirm what many observers have already concluded: The transition to e-books has not been as smooth and as rapid as Mellon (and many others) thought it would be. In the late 1990s, the foundation decided ‘that books would quickly follow journals into online distribution and access,’ so it put money behind two e-monograph projects, Gutenberg-e and History E-Books. The results were, to say […]