We’ve been writing that it appears very few publishers aside from the Agency Five will be ready to go from day one in the iBookstore, and David Pogue confirms that assessment in an early review of the iPad today. For doubters: “There’s an e-book reader app, but it’s not going to rescue the newspaper and book industries (sorry, media pundits). The selection is puny (60,000 titles for now). You can’t read well in direct sunlight. At 1.5 pounds, the iPad gets heavy in your hand after awhile (the Kindle is 10 ounces). And you can’t read books from the Apple […]
Hachette eBooks "Currently Unavailable" at Amazon; In Update, Site Blames HBG
It’s no joke: the agency model arrived today, at least in part, and as previously reported and predicted, there will be at least a few discrepancies and business interruptions along the way as systems and contracts are switched. Most notably so far, buy buttons for the Hachette Book Groups’ ebook titles disappeared today, first reported here, including current top sellers such as Nicholas Sparks and Stephenie Meyer. But HBG’s print books remain available directly from the site. In a site post, Amazon said that they have signed a new agency agreement with the publisher, however: “We recently signed an ‘agency’ […]
Slimmer Loss In Scholastic's Quietest Quarter
Like their Harry Potter partners in the UK Bloomsbury, Scholastic reported softer third quarter sales of $398.8 million, down from $423.6 million a year ago mostly because of lower Potter-related sales. But the company reduced their loss from continuing operations to $6.3 million, much improved from a $41.2 million loss a year ago. (The company usually incurs some loss during the third quarter.) They raised their full-year earnings guidance to the top end of the previously-provided range CEO Dick Robinson says in the release, “Successful execution and increased federal stimulus funding drove more than 30% growth in sales of educational […]
No New eBook Agreement Yet Between Penguin and Amazon
Penguin USA ceo David Shanks wrote to agents this morning on the current state of play as they move to an agency model: “In recent weeks we have been in discussion with our retail partners who sell eBooks, including Amazon, to discuss our new terms of sale for eBooks in the U.S. At the moment, we have reached an agreement with many of them, but unfortunately not Amazon – of course, we hope to in the future.” As a result, “your newly released eBook is currently not available on Amazon, but all of your eBooks released prior to April 1 […]
Bookselling News: More from Burkle, and Two Closures
At Barnes & Noble, investor Ron Burkle filed a new statement with the SEC, reiterating their previous objections to the bookseller’s poison pill and recommending that BN “improve its corporate governance practices by adding three to four new, independent directors to the company’s board of directors.” Barbara’s Bookstore will close its Oak Park, IL location this summer after 20 years there. Yesterday a Cook County judge ruled against the bookseller in a longrunning dispute with their landlord over rent and taxes. Owner Donald Barliant “declined to say where the business would move or if it would remain in Oak Park.”Tribune […]
Awards, People and More
The New York Public Library’s Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers has named its new class of fourteen fellows. The list includes fiction writers David Bezmozgis, Maile Chapman, Mary Gaitskill, and Wells Tower; poet Geoffrey Brock; New Yorker staff writer Larissa MacFarquhar; graphic novelist and artist David Sandlin; and Pulitzer-winning author Annette Gordon-Reed. Jo Ann Miller, former editorial director of Basic Books, has formed J.A. Miller Associates to provide ghost writing, editorial collaboration, developmental editing, and author coaching. At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Maire Gorman has been promoted to the new position of vp of trade sales […]