-
Investor Wants to Up Barnes & Noble Stake
Investor Ron Burkle, whose Yucaipa investment firm owns a 19% stake in Barnes & Noble, wants the retailer's board to waive the poison pill provision it passed to allow him to acquire 37% of the company which would put him on equal footing with chairman Len Riggio.
-
‘Flanimals Pop-Up’ Shipment Missing—No Joke
Ricky Gervais is involved, but for once it’s no laughing matter: a shipment of more than 12,000 copies of Flanimals Pop-Up by actor/comedian Gervais went missing last week en route to Candlewick’s warehouse in Indiana. Police are investigating the incident as grand theft (the books are valued at more than $240,000).
-
Agents Largely Support Macmillan; Some Angered by Amazon
In a major industry development over the weekend--which saw Macmillan announce new terms of sale with Amazon for its e-books and Amazon ultimately capitulate to those terms in a statement--agents watched, many internally cheering the move made by the smallest of the "big six" houses.
-
Macmillan, Amazon Dispute Nearing Resolution
Although nothing official has been announced and Macmillan’s titles are still not directly available for sale from Amazon, the dispute over new e-book terms that exploded Friday night appears headed towards resolution in favor of the publisher.
-
Indie Presses Find a Home on Campuses
When South End Press relocated from Cambridge, Mass., to the Brooklyn campus of Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York last fall, it joined a handful of presses that have formed partnerships with universities. In some cases, these presses have been launched by academic institutions, which have created such imprints as Open Letter at the University of Rochester or Apprentice Hou...
-
Ellison's Unfinished Novel Released
Technically, Three Days Before the Shooting is the unfinished second novel by Ralph Ellison. But calling the 1,136-plus—page tome that is a bit deceptive. Less an attempt to cull the final writings of a dead author into a single novel, the book, which Random House's Modern Library published in a small print run last week, has more the “quality of an encyclopedia,” in the view ...
-
Amazon Halts Sales of Macmillan Titles
The New York Times has reported that online book retailer Amazon.com has removed the buy button from all active Macmillan titles on its site in a dispute over the pricing of e-books for the Kindle.
-
Amazon Has Blockbuster Year
Sales and earnings hit records in all major segments of Amazon's business in 2009 and the company has sold "millions" of Kindles, according to CEO Jeff Bezos.
-
Borders Eliminates 164 Positions
Borders Group has cut another 164 positions at with job reductions coming in its corporate headquarters and distribution centers. Cuts in its store workforce are expected soon.
-
Investigation Into Online Discount Practices Includes Barnes & Noble
The New York Attorney General office has subpoenaed 22 online retailers has part of an investigation into a practice that links consumers to membership programs that charge unauthorized fees. B&N is among the retailers subpoenaed, but the company said he has never turned over customer information to membership clubs.
-
AmazonEncore to Publish First Original Titles
Amazon’s publishing imprint, AmazonEncore, is publishing four original manuscripts for the first time this spring. The books—Page From a Tennessee Journal by Francine Thomas Howard, Greyhound by Steffan Piper, A Cruel Harvest by Paul Reid, and Crossing by Andrew Fukuda—were all submitted for last year’s Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest.
-
Indigo Third Quarter Up
Sales and earnings rose at Indigio in the third quarter ended December 26.
-
Kobo Prepares Tablet Apps
Kobo, the newly independent incarnation of Canadian Indigo Books & Music’s e-bookstore Shortcovers, has announced that it is developing applications for Windows 7, Android and additional operating systems, which will make Kobo’s service available for tablet and slate computers in February.
-
Grand Central Launches New Imprint
Grand Central is launching a new imprint dedicated to the lifestyle and wellness category called Grand Central Life & Style. The move will see current GCP imprints Springboard Press (which is focused on nonfiction books for baby boomers) and Wellness Central (focused on health titles) folded into the new line.
-
Borders Refutes Debtwire Story
Late Friday afternoon, Borders issues a statement casting further doubt on a story that appeared first on Debtwire.com about delaying payments to some small publishers.
-
Barnes & Noble.com Realigns
A spokesperson for Barnes & Noble confirmed a number of reports that there was some changes last week at Barnes & Noble.com, although she couldn’t provide many details.
-
Chelsea Green Partners with Kimbell Sherman Ellis
Chelsea Green Publishing is partnering with Kimbell Sherman Ellis, LLP (KSE), a strategic communications firm with offices in Montpelier, Vt. (where Chelsea Green is located), Cambridge, Mass., and Washington, DC. President and publisher Margo Baldwin said the alliance is meant to “redesign” the way books are publicized and sold in the digital age, especially in regards to Chelsea Green’s roster of authors who are able to speak to current political issues.
-
Author Solutions CEO Addresses RWA, MWA, SFWA in Video Statement
Self-publishing company Author Solutions, which has weathered a fair amount of scrutiny in recent months thanks to its alliances with traditional publishing houses, has released a video statement from its CEO asking for cooperation from three authors’ guilds. In the three-minute spot, Kevin Weiss calls for Romance Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America, and the Science Fiction Writers Association to join him for a discussion about “choice and opportunity” in book publishing.
-
Correction: Lowenstein Sandler Not Repping Publishers
Regarding today's story about a group of smaller publishers hiring Lowenstein Sandler to represent them in possible actions against Borders, a spokesperson from the firm issued the following: "The statement in the article that 'a group of smaller publishers has hired the bankruptcy group of Lowenstein Sandler as legal counsel' is incorrect."
-
Concerns over Borders Grow
Debtwire reports that a group of small publishers has grown frustrated by slow payments by Borders. The Debtwire report that the group has hired the bankruptcy firm of Lowenstein Sandler, however, was refuted by a firm spokesperson. Publishers interviewed by PW said they were current with the chain, but are growing more concerned about the inability of the company to improve its results.
Browse archive by date:
