Kindle Price Cut
In a surprise move, Amazon lowered the price of its Kindle 2 e-reader last week, dropping the cost from $359 to $299. There are now more than 300,000 titles compatible for use on the Kindle 2.
OpenAccess From Hachette
Hachette Book Group has added OpenAccess to its Web site. The new feature will allow readers to see all content from a selected group of titles, which will be drawn from the company’s backlist, frontlist and forthcoming books. Books will appear in OpenAccess for 30 days and then will be replaced with a new list.
'Symbol’ Cover Unveiled
Looking to build buzz before the September 15 release of Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol, Random House last week unveiled the jacket for the title plus a few plot details. Brown’s editor at Doubleday, Jason Kaufman, said in a statement that the novel is “largely” set in Washington, D.C., but “it’s a Washington few will recognize.” Kaufman added that the book touches on “an unseen world of mysticism, secret societies, and hidden locations, with a stunning twist that long predates America.”
Capstone, SI Kids in Pact
Capstone Publishers is collaborating with Sports Illustrated Kids to produce a line of books under its Capstone Press and Stone Arch Books imprints. Fiction and nonfiction titles containing sports themes will be produced for elementary and middle-grade readers in three different formats: high/low informational, graphic novels and illustrated chapter books. The partnership will continue through spring 2012, with a total of 82 titles scheduled for release over the course of the next three years. Three series in the Sports Illustrated Kids line will debut in January 2010: Greatest Sports Stars, the Science of Sports and Graphic Sports.
Pocket in Zombie Deal
Pocket Books has entered into a seven book copublishing venture with horror and science fiction publisher Permuted Press to do zombie-related titles. The first title, Day by Day Armageddon, will be released in October in trade paperback with a 50,000-copy first printing. The second book in the series is slated to be published in February. Armageddon is Permuted’s biggest seller to date, selling about 25,000 copies.
Picture Books for Hammond
Hammond Publishing is launching a line of children’s picture books this fall. Themes of the new line will center around self-awareness, the importance of personal choices and social awareness. Six titles are set to be released in the debut list. The line is being headed by chief sales and marketing officer Michele Martin and editorial director Nel Yomtov.
Sourcebooks Tries DRM-Free
Sourcebooks has begun collaborating with Smashwords, which produces and sells DRM-free versions of e-books, to make 14 mass market romance novels, released under the company’s Casablanca imprint, available for sale though Smashwords. The e-books will be priced at $6.99 and will be available in nine formats. This is the first time that Sourcebooks is making DRM-free digital versions of their books available to consumers.
New Venture for Bleak House Founder
Ben LeRoy, founder of Bleak House, has left the company to start Tyrus Books. The first list will appear in the fall, with three titles that were slated for publication under the Bleak House imprint. Big Earth Publishing, which acquired Bleak House in 2005, will continue to publish hard-edged crime and literary fiction under the Bleak House imprint.
Graywolf Press Moving
Graywolf Press is moving across the Mississippi River, from St. Paul to the Traffic Zone Visual Art Center in Minneapolis, at the end of August or beginning of September, depending on when renovations are completed. Graywolf’s current offices for its nine employees are in a 3,700 square-foot space, with a 1,500-foot warehouse in the basement. The company is moving into a 3,700-square-foot space that includes both offices and warehouse on the top floor of a six-storey historic building that also provides working space for artists.
