F+W Publications has officially announced a name change to F+W Media, which “better reflects the company’s mission to deliver to passionate consumers the content, community, and data they desire–regardless of platform.” In other words, they are shifting “from a print focus to a web-enabled digital business.” To that end, F+W is building websites based around communities of enthusiasts and categories of interest that no longer focus on a single magazine or book title, having already launched MyCraftivity.com. And they aspire to make Everything.com, based on the Everything Series of books, a reference site they hope will rival such sites as […]
Borland Promoted
At Atria, Peter Borland has been promoted to editorial director. The entire department will report to Borland except for Emily Bestler and the members of the executive editorial director’s office. Borland and Bestler will both report to publisher Judith Curr. Curr writes: “Peter joined Atria in 2004 as senior editor and since then has distinguished himself both as an excellent acquiring editor and a thoughtful, conscientious manager. He has long served as a resource and sounding board for his colleagues in day-to-day business matters and his new title will allow him to take on a more formal role shaping our […]
More Changes
As previewed earlier this month, we’re rolling out more changes in how Lunch news is presented and available to you, by e-mail and throughout the day. For a long time we’ve presented news at PublishersMarketplace in a variety of ways, including “headline clips” and some individually posted items on the home page–but that process will now be more consistent, constant, and easy-to-track. The site version of Publishers Lunch Deluxe is basically turning into a 24/7 newsblog. All news items will post there first as they are ready; each item now has an individual permalink, two types of tags for searching, […]
Borders Live with Audio Downloads
The promised inclusion of downloadable audiobooks at Borders’ web site has gone live, with “an initial 15,000 titles” on offer. The company says that over a third of those titles are available in (DRM-free) MP3 files. Starting today and running through Saturday, you can download a free audio version of Jon Krakauer’s INTO THE WILD, and an additional 15 titles from top authors (including the topical TWILIGHT by Stephenie Meyer) will sold at the promotional discount price of $9.95 through July 22. As noted previously, Borders has partnered with OverDrive for both the inventory and the underlying technology for the […]
Author Solutions Partners Include Alibris
First announced in June with 10 partners, Author Solutions has signed another 13 sites to the program that makes their self-publishing platform available to other entities on a revenue-sharing basis. Interestingly, among the latest partners is online bookselling powerhouse Alibris, which creates all kinds of interesting possibilities. Author Solutions calls the program “a turnkey revenue producer for online communities, printers, retailers, and publishers. The platform has all of our publishing expertise ‘baked in.’ It can be skinned with our partners’ branding and we provide all necessary IT and back-end support.”Release
Legal Fight Over Chicken Soup Split
The Chicken Soup for the Soul series has sparked a legal battle between the new owners and the former publisher, according to an article in the Miami Herald. As previously announced, Simon & Schuster was recently named the distributor for new titles in the line, following the purchase of publishing rights by a Connecticut investment group run by William Rouhana and Robert Jacobs from creators Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. A suit filed in Federal District Court in California “accuses Health Communications with interfering with the sale of the publishing and distribution rights and with trademark violations.” A separate […]