The Federal Trade Commission officially revised its “guides” which govern endorsements and testimonials, aimed squarely at the universe of online and word-of-mouth recommendations. The new rules have all the clarity you would expect from an 81-page government document , and in many instances they are either opaque, noxious or just ridiculous (the FTC wants disclosure within tweets as well). The main point of essence for book publishers, and book bloggers and online reviewers, is the determination that “bloggers may be subject to different disclosure requirements than reviewers in traditional media.” They judge that “a blogger’s statement on his personal blog […]
Lunch Weekly for Monday, October 5
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 Urban Waite’s THE TERROR OF LIVING, involving a drug deal gone […]
AAP Returns Annual Meeting to DC
After eight years of convening their annual meeting in New York, the AAP is moving next year’s general meeting on March 3 back to its traditional home in Washington, DC. It will be coordinated with the annual meeting of the organization’s School Division (which convenes that morning). The AAP says the move is “in an effort to maximize the opportunity for publishers to press their case with members of Congress on a range of important issues including copyright, domestic and international piracy, reading and literacy initiatives, the impact of the open source movement, and the 2010 outlook for K-12 publishing.”
Wilson Leaves Headline After Just Five Months
After just five months as chief executive at the Headline group in the UK, Kate Wilson has left the company by “mutual agreement” according to a brief statement. Hachette UK adds that “after a period of consultation, a more detailed announcement will follow.” Wilson was supposed to be taking over from Martin Neild as he prepared to retire from the company in 2010. For now, deputy managing directors Jane Morpeth and Kerr MacRae will report to Neild again. In unrelated Hachette UK news, Jon Wood has been promoted to deputy group publisher, reporting to Malcolm Edwards in the new role–while […]
Amazon Settles Kindle-Deletion Suit
Amazon has reached a settlement agreement with the Michigan teenager who sued the retailer over the deletion of unauthorized editions of two George Orwell ebooks from Kindles in July. The suit was designed to acquire class-action status, but that became less of an issue “because of Amazon’s offer to fully reimburse affected consumers for all works previously removed by Amazon from devices and to restore notes and annotations.” Amazon will pay $150,000 to settle the suit–somewhat better than the $30 gift certificate offered to those who didn’t sue–but the law firm agrees to donate its portion of the award to […]
Two BAMM Disclosures
Books-A-Million announced that Anderson BAMM Holdings intends to sell up to 400,000 shares of stock in the bookseller–about 25 percent of its current holdings–“to assist its members’ in their estate planning needs.” The entity is the company’s fourth-largest shareholder, after three members of the Anderson family. BAMM stock has significantly outperformed its bookselling peers over the last year. Separately, in a filing with the SEC that revises the presentation of some basic data in answer to a variety of questions posed by the regulatory agency, Books-a-Million has broken out their e-commerce sales for the past three years. Sales of $25.17 […]