AmazonEncore Launched
Through its newly launched Amazon-Encore program, the e-tailer has acquired world English rights to Legacy, a self-published novel by Cayla Kluver. The goal of AmazonEncore is to give greater exposure to what the company believes are worthwhile, overlooked books. Legacy will be republished by Amazon-Encore in August in hardcover and made available through Audible and as a Kindle e-book. The size of the AmazonEncore list will be determined by “how many great books we can identify,” Amazon said.
Landesman Tabbed for NEA
Rocco Landesman, president of Jujamcyn Theaters, will be nominated by President Obama to succeed Dana Gioia as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. In addition to producing such plays at The Producers and Big River, Landesman has written on the arts and has been on numerous boards, including the Municipal Arts Society and the Educational Foundation of America. The White House notes that Landesman’s career “has been a hybrid of commercial, philanthropic, and purely artistic engagements.”
EB, Rosen in Joint Venture
Encyclopaedia Britannica has teamed with the newly formed Rosen Educational Services, part of the Rosen Publishing Group, to launch Britannica Educational Publishing. The new initiative will develop and distribute curriculum-correlated material as well as individual titles and e-books for the k-12 school and library market. The first list of 80 titles is scheduled to be released in 2010 for grades 7—12 in the areas of science, social studies, history and current events.
Red Wheel, Hampton Roads in Pact
Hampton Roads Publishing has signed a three-year distribution and joint operating agreement with Red Wheel/Weiser/Conari Press effective June 1. In addition to distributing Hampton titles, Red Wheel will provide other back-office functions for Hampton, which will still develop its own list. Hampton is closing its Charlottesville, Va., office, and sales and marketing director Greg Brandenburgh will work out of Conari Press’s San Francisco office. The other four full-time Hampton staffers will telecommute.
Church Publishing Halts Trade Deals
Church Publishing, the publishing arm of the U.S. Episcopal Church, is suspending acquisitions of new trade books. CPI will scale back activity at its trade imprint, Seabury Books, and implement a 30% staff reduction. The publisher will monitor the market and resume trade publishing when the market improves.
Donnelley Makes Offer for Quebecor
R.R. Donnelley sent a letter to Quebecor World’s board last week saying it would like to buy its bankrupt competitor for about $1.3 billion. The Quebecor board said it will study the proposal, but went ahead with scheduled court hearings to discuss the printer’s reorganization plan. Under Donnelley’s nonbinding offer, the printer will pay about $700 million in cash, plus 30 million Donnelley shares and cash in hand for a total of about $1.3 billion.
Quebecor reported that revenue in the first quarter dropped 25%, to $752 million, though its net loss was cut to $125.9 million, from $190 million.
B&N’s Moran to Head Chronicle Kids
Chronicle Books has appointed Josalyn Moran as its new children’s publishing director, effective June 10. Moran, who has been v-p of children’s books at Barnes & Noble for the past nine years, will fill a vacancy at Chronicle left open since the departure of Bill Boedeker in December 2008. Before joining B&N, Moran was v-p, associate publisher, at North-South Books, and prior to that she worked at Golden Books and Scholastic.
