Random House’s US division announced its “intention to make an additional 6,000-plus of its backlist titles available as e-books in the coming months,” adding to the current list of 8,200 electronic titles. They are also further embracing the epub standard, “for the first time…offering its entire current electronic catalogue, as well as future titles” in that format. CEO Markus Dohle says “more people everyday are enjoying reading in the electronic format and Random House wants to extend our reach to them with more of our books.” Random House tells the AP their tiny e-book sales have tripled this year.
$6 Billion Federal Reading Program a Failure
The Washington Post reported last week that “students in the $6 billion Reading First program have not made greater progress in understanding what they read than have peers outside the program, according to a congressionally mandated study…. Students in schools that use Reading First, a program at the core of the No Child Left Behind law, scored no better on comprehension tests than students in similar schools that do not get the funding.” As the article adds, “Federal investigators have found that some people who helped oversee the program had financial ties to the publishers of Reading First materials.”Post As […]
People
Books-a-Million chief financial officer Douglas Markham, who is a Commander with the United States Navy Reserve, has been recalled to active duty. Controller Brian White will serve as interim cfo during the seven months that Markham is on active duty. In the UK, John Parker is leaving MBA Literary Agents after 30 years to form his own agency along with John Berlyne. Langenscheidt has named Nel Yomtov as executive editor of Hammond, overseing editorial direction of the line, and reporting to Langenscheidt’s chief sales and marketing officer Michele Martin. He will also lead the product and concept development of new […]
Bay Area on the Recession in Publishing
The SF Chronicle talked to local publishers and booksellers about they view, and are dealing with, the downturn. Owner of Book Passage in Corte Madera and San Francisco Elaine Petrocelli “recently began giving priority seating at author readings to customers who purchased the book.” She notes, “we have some things happening at Book Passage that make these economic times a little less frightening for us.” They will have hosted over 700 author events in 2008, as well as hundreds of in-store classes. “Petrocelli began a membership program, where supporters contribute varying amounts, from $50 to $2,500. Members are treated to […]
European Library Site Closes as Quickly as It Opened
After a busier-than-expected first day, the EU’s Europeana web site closed back down for scaling. The home page says they will be return “in a more robust version as soon as possible. We will be back by mid-December.” Their development/preview site is still online at http://dev.europeana.eu/.
Random Freezes Pensions
We were just forwarded an internal announcement that Random House is freezing all pensions at their current levels and will not give pensions to new employees hired as of January 1, and now the news is the subject of an AP story as well. The article notes that “the company will continue to offer matching funds, up to 6 percent, for 401k plans.”AP In another Random House bulletin, their Canadian division has declined to exhibit at the next Book Expo Canada. President and CEO Brad Martin said in an e-mail they “feel the show is no longer effective in helping […]