There’s a lot of international press for Simon & Schuster’s May release, PRISONER OF STATE: The Secret Journal of Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang. As the subtitle promises, the book draws on previously-secret and little-known tapes recorded by the late Ziyang during the 1989 Tiananmen uprising (and crackdown) and smuggled out of China. The Times of London says, “So sensitive is this document, the first memoir ever to be made public by such a senior Chinese party official, that even its existence had been kept a closely guarded secret. Speculation had been rife during his nearly 16 years of house arrest […]
Amazon to Bloggers: Go Kindle Yourself
Amazon has created a self-service platform that lets any blogger to enroll and distribute their blog to Kindle users–after accepting Amazon’s terms of service. Just like the big newspapers, Amazon keeps 70 percent of the proceeds, and they have sole power to set pricing (which for most blogs in either $1.99 or $.99 a month.)Sign in page
Amazon Gets Closer to Publishing with "Encore" Program
Amazon has announced a new program in which they will harvest “information such as customer reviews on Amazon websites to identify exceptional, overlooked books and authors that show potential for greater sales.” Amazon then helpfully “partners” with the authors to reissue their books with “marketing support” and sales through Amazon, the Kindle store, and Audible but also–at least they hope–distribution to “national and independent bookstores via third-party wholesalers.” From the listing on the initial selection, 16-year-old Cayla Kluver’s self-published YA fantasy romance novel LEGACY, the “publisher” will be billed as Amazon Encore, which could be a nonstarter for many of […]
Lagardere Publishing Still Rising
Sales rose 12 percent in the first quarter at Lagardere Publishing, to 463 million euros, as the company sold over 18 million copies of Stephenie Meyer books worldwide. Foreign exchange had “a negative effect” of 9 million euros, with the pound weakening and the dollar strengthening during the period. That left Hachette Book Group in the US with 20 percent of the company’s sales, and Hachette UK at 18 percent. The company acknowledges that the first quarter percentage increase was helped by “a flattering comparative” and says that “while Lagardère Publishing is ahead of budget for the first three months […]
Red Wheel Partners with Hampton Roads, and People News
Red Wheel/Weiser and Hampton Roads Publishing are joining forces as of June 1 in what is being called a distribution relationship but also “a joint operating agreement” according to Red Wheel president Michael Kerber. (Both lines are already warehoused at Books International.) Kerber notes “we’re also combining forces for several back office functions — eliminating duplication on the operations, accounting, and production side.” The companies say they will operate primarily from Red Wheel’s offices in Newburyport and San Francisco. Greg Brandenburgh will oversee the Hampton Roads part of the endeavor, based in San Francisco, and the imprint will publish a […]
Inside the Kindle Sales Explosion
There was one, and only one, surprise for trade publishers at last week’s press conference to introduce the Kindle DX, but its impact is still being examined carefully at multiple publishers. It came when Amazon ceo Jeff Bezos said “Kindle sales are now 35 percent of books where we have Kindle editions” and print editions of the same title. Bezos indicated the increase was “coincident with the launch of Kindle 2.” That jaw-dropping figure, such as it is, was more than three times the ratio that Amazon had reported previously, first in October and then again in February when Kindle […]