E-book Sales Jump 176%
E-books sales for the 13 publishers that report to AAP soared 176% in 2009, to $169.5 million. The rise in sales, coupled with a decline in print trade sales, increased the e-book share of total trade sales from 1.2% in 2008 to 3.3% in 2009. Sales of trade paperbacks, mass market paperback, and children's hardcovers were down; adult hardcover and children's paperback were up.
Macmillan Debuts Dynamic Books
Macmillan is launching Dynamic Books, a digital publishing platform and line of interactive e-textbooks that are much cheaper than print, can be freely customized by professors, downloaded, accessed online, or purchased in POD editions. The e-textbook venture addresses problems with used textbooks, high prices, and digital piracy. The platform will be offered to other publishers and will launch in August with 20 titles and more to come.
McGraw-Hill to Sell Chapters
McGraw-Hill Pofessional will begin selling chapters from its books through a service called Select: eChapters in an Instant. Select offers more than 750 chapters from MHP business categories. Chapters can be purchased for many e-reading devices, including Kindle, Nook, and iPhone and from vendors for libraries. Chapters can be bought at the MHP Web site.
Reader's Digest Out of Bankruptcy
Reader's Digest has dramatically cut its debt and officially emerged from pre-packaged bankruptcy, said CEO Mary Berner. Restructuring continues, and RD will move out of its longtime headquarters in Chappaqua, N.Y., and move to new offices in New York City and White Plains, N.Y.
Knopf Plans 200,000 Print Of Obama Bio
Knopf will release a 200,000-copy hardcover first printing of The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama by New Yorker editor David Remnick on April 6. Knopf plans simultaneous e-book and audiobook editions.
Lynch, Peters To Speak at AAP Annual Meeting
B&N president William Lynch, Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters, and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan are among the speakers and panelists at the AAP's annual meeting set for Washington, D.C., March 3—4.
Alibris Buys Monsoon Inc.
Online retailer Alibris has acquired Monsoon Inc., an online marketplace for books and other items, for cash and stock. The acquisition, which will close in March, gives Alibris/Monsoon more than 15,000 sellers.
German Court Issues Piracy Injunction
A German court has ruled that the Swiss-based file-sharing site Rapidshare must either take measures to prevent illegal file sharing of 148 copyrighted works cited in a suit filed by six global publishers or face penalties. AAP president Tom Allen hailed the court's quick decision. The publishers include Wiley, Elsevier, and Macmillan. Rapidshare said it plans to appeal.
O'Reilly Launches Digital Distribution
O'Reilly Media is launching O'Reilly Digital Distribution, a division offering publishers a complete e-book publishing service. Starting with text conversion, ODD can output files in any format for any device or e-reader, and market and distribute the e-titles though an extensive network of retail channels.
Scribd Goes Mobile
Online content aggregator Scribd.com debuted a “send to device” feature that allows consumers to send DRM-free Scribd documents to their e-readers or smartphones. The company is also making APIs available to device makers that will allow them to create Scribd apps for their devices.
