The Telegraph says that McGraw Hill is one of the few actual publishing companies to express interest in bidding on Reed Business Information, along with a number of private equity firms. Reed is making available 160 million pounds in loans and has arranged another 560 million pounds in credit from a consortium of bankers to make it easier to unload the unit in one piece. First round bids are due by mid-August.Telegraph
Personnel, Etc.
Book review editor (and arts writer) at The Tennessean Jonathan Marx e-mailed contacts to let them know he has left the newspaper to take a job as publications manager for the Nashville Symphony. Del Commune Enterprises is now scouting in France for Calmann-Levy and Le Livre du Poche and in Spain for Salamandra Ediciones. As of August 1, they will also scout for Jorge Zahar Editor in Brazil.
Lunch Weekly for Monday, July 21
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 – ,000 “very nice deal” ,000 – ,000 “good deal” ,000 – ,000 “significant deal” ,000 – ,000 “major deal” ,000 and up FICTION Debut Writer and sculptor Jane Borodale’s debut novel THE BOOK OF FIRES, […]
Mitch Albom's Kindle Exclusive
Amazon started selling bestselling author Mitch Albom’s “Commencement Speech To His Nephew’s Graduating Class: May 30, 2008, Nice France” today as an exclusive Kindle file, priced at 99 cents. (It’s fewer than 4,000 words.) The AP notes, “proceeds are being donated to a Detroit-based charity for the homeless — but it does offer a test for the digital device that has created a great debate about the future of books and great speculation over how much the Kindle is part of that future.” Amazon pitches it: “Albom created a memorable testament to what we know and what we need to […]
ABA to Partner with Applewood on POD
I love the tidbit via Vermont Public Radio that, despite publishing world dreams that a POD book machine within a bookstore will make available countless titles efficiently to individual customers, what those customers really want is to make their own books. There is, potentially, huge opportunity there for physical bookstores, since the dozens of web sites that offer such services don’t have their own retail outlets. The bookstore is a natural place to go for help in publishing your own book (and if you buy the right package, they’ll put it on sale for you, too.) I’ve noted in speeches […]
"Love Letters" Tie-In: What Took So Long?
You’ll recall the the Sex & the City movie ignited interest in the nonexistent book featured in the movie, “Love Letters of Great Men.” Now former Picador deputy publisher Ursula Doyle has compiled and annotated a book under that proven title, including “all of the letters referenced in the film,” for quick release on August 15 from Pan Macmillan in the UK. (The DVD of the film is due a month later.) The house says in a short announcement “there will be a huge viral marketing campaign online, including Facebook activity, and we are aiming for simultaneous e-book publication.” They […]