Amazon Ramps Up War Against Hachette
Amazon has upped the ante in its battle with Hachette over sales terms. After news surfaced earlier this month that the online retailer was slow in fulfilling orders on the publisher’s titles—with shipment delays reaching five weeks—Amazon removed the preorder capabilities on many major forthcoming Hachette titles. The publisher said that it is “doing everything in [its] power to find a solution to this difficult situation.”
Rowman & Littlefield Acquires Globe Pequot Press
Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group has acquired Globe Pequot Press from parent company Morris Communications. The purchase, which was completed May 22, adds approximately 2,500 titles and $20 million in sales to R&L.
HarperCollins Offers Kids’ E-books via Epic!
HarperCollins continues its support for subscription e-book services in a deal with Epic!, a children’s subscription service, adding 1,000 backlist kids’ e-book titles to the company’s library.
S&S Adds E-Book Backlist to Oyster, Scribd
Simon & Schuster has reached an agreement with subscription e-book services Oyster and Scribd to make 10,000 of its backlist e-books available to subscribers. This is S&S’s first time offering its titles via such services.
Smashwords, OverDrive Ink Global E-book Distribution Deal
Smashwords, an e-book self-publishing platform, has reached an agreement with digital library vendor OverDrive to distribute its titles via the OverDrive network of public libraries. The deal will make more than 200,000 Smashword titles available for borrowing and for purchase through OverDrive.
