Alibris Wants to Make Everyone a Used Bookseller Alibris is pitching their new Basic service as a way to turn “book lovers, students, publishers, and collectors” into used booksellers. The program allows people to post up to 1,000 books for sale, and charges one dollar per book sold plus a commission, along with a minimum annual fee of $19.99. And they’ve even added the de rigeur environmental appeal, too: “Because reselling is recycling, Alibris Basic helps sellers earn money while contributing to a healthier environment.” Alibris page Also online, Book Sense went live with their e-books offerings earlier this week, […]

BN’s Quarter Strong frontlist releases helped Barnes & Noble to a 1.7 percent same-store sales increase at BN stores for the first quarter, with total revenue of $1.145 billion. The new titles helped BN.com in particular to an 8 percent gain over a year ago, to $93.8 million. But the company lost $1.7 million, or three cents a share — better than their previous guidance, but worse than what analysts were expecting (the consensus was a penny a share of profit). And BN says the loss was mitigated because another 3 cents per share of expenses related to store openings […]

Amazon Buys Brilliance Amazon has acquired audiobook publisher Brilliance Audio from owners Michael Snodgrass, Eileen Hutton and a private equity group, for undisclosed terms. Brilliance will continue to run as an independent unit based in Michigan, under Snodgrass’s leadership. Amazon vp of books Greg Greeley says the purchase is part of “a three-pronged approach” to “expand audio selection to customers.” Brilliance has a catalog of over 1,000 audio titles and new releases of 20 to 40 titles a month, and Greeley says Amazon will be “giving them the support to produce a lot more titles than they have historically.” As […]

S&S Replies Further to Guild Simon & Schuster is sending a letter to agents and authors that asserts the “Authors Guild has recently perpetrated serious misinformation” about changes in their contract language and criticizes the Guild for not “having undertaken any effort to have a dialogue.” They say that “contrary to the Authors Guild assertion, using technologies like print on demand is not about ‘squirreling away’ rights, nor does it mean that ‘no copies are available to be ordered by traditional bookstores.’ Print on demand is simply a means of manufacturing a book, making it widely available to retailers and […]

New Name, Expanded Scope for Business Line Grand Central Publishing announced a new name this morning for the old Warner Business imprint — now to be known as Business Plus — and a new plan to extend the line to the UK. Executive editor Rick Wolff will continue to lead acquisitions in the US, and Headline editorial director David Wilson will oversee the new UK effort. (Headline has not previously had a dedicated business line.) Together they will “develop joint acquisition strategies, and [look] to acquire world rights when possible.” Another Internet Publishing Contest MediaPredict.com is working with Touchstone Fireside […]

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 Kathleen McCleary’s HOUSE AND HOME, about a woman who loves her house […]