Dec 28 2008
Thanks to JFerg for the link to this op ed piece in Sunday’s New York Times. Staff writer, David Streitfield, argues that used bookstores are primarily responsible for the declining publishing industry. In other words, the sky is falling because of the secondary market. Don’t blame this carnage on the recession or any of the(…)
Dec 25 2008
Authors are advocating that used bookstores pay royalties for the books they sell. This would require an amendment to the Copyright Act which codifies the First Sale Doctrine. The First Sale Doctrine allows anyone who buys something the right to resell their property without permission of the original copyright holder. Requiring the reseller to pay(…)
Dec 25 2008
Whether it’s Oprah’s endorsement of the Kindle or the idea that technology can save publishing, more and more mainstream publications are revisiting the concept of ebook reading. The New York Times reports on the Kindle which is out of stock and the Sony which has sold 300,000 readers since 2006. Currently, sales of ebooks appear(…)
Dec 25 2008
The Nation suggests that book publishing is no longer recession/depression proof given the number of alternate entertainment sources and the increasing costs of books and that perhaps the Age of Publishing, as we know it, is coming into decline to be saved by, perhaps, smaller, nimbler, more responsive businesses. Salon posits that it was the(…)
Dec 23 2008
In the year end letter to her company, CEO for Simon and Schuster, puts on her happy face (after the grim one which dispersed the layoff information) and gives out the good news : New website coming in 2009 (which I've heard will be author centric) eBook sales quadrupled in 2008. More ebooks to(…)
Dec 18 2008
NYTimes has more details on the Random House restructuring. Susan Kamil will be the editor in chief of the Random House imprint that now houses both Ballantine and Bantam. There have been a number of layoffs at Doubleday which was swept into Knopf and Broadway which is part of Crown. It doesn't look like the layoffs(…)
Dec 17 2008
Yesterday, Macmillan laid off 64 people (approx. 4% of the workforce). The children's imprints will all be consolidated and the cuts will take place at every arm: Tor, the tony FSG, and St. Martin's Press. Whoever is left at FSG has been asked to cut back on the amount spent on acquisitions. Maybe it's time(…)
Dec 15 2008
According to Publishers Weekly, Running Press is going to offer gay romance fiction written by and for straight women. The series will launch in April with “Transgressions” and “False Colors” with two more titles set for fall 2009 release. President Jon Anderson of Running Press is doing the acquiring and the line is edited by(…)
Dec 9 2008
Adobe is just another company releasing its job cuts for 2008 and 2009. Because of the economy and depressed sales, Adobe will be cutting 600 jobs from its worldwide employee rolls under a restructuring of its company’s workforce. Adobe looks to be facing a shortfall of $13 to $40 million in revenue compared to its(…)
Dec 9 2008
Amid the struggling economy, Sony (the manufacturer of the Sony Reader) is cutting over 8,000 jobs worldwide which is equal to about 4% of its workforce. The move seems to be preemptive to cut costs and yield better profits. The varying value of the dollar against the yen is affecting overall profits as 80% of(…)
Dec 7 2008
Dec 7 2008
more animals Wildcard by Lora Leigh is a mass market release with a retail price of $7.99 but an ebook retail price of $14.00. Sherrilyn Kenyon’s One Silent Night is also a mass market release with a retail price of $7.99 but an ebook retail price of $14.00. Almost all of Kenyon’s books that are(…)
Dec 6 2008
Once considered recession proof, the book business is suffering the same kind of economic turmoil as the rest. Booksellers, according to All Things Considered, incur 25% of the book sales in the holiday season. One long time bookseller is getting out of the new book business and will now sell used ones. Big box chain(…)
Dec 5 2008
I am interested in compiling statistics about the types of ebook formats being purchased. I understand that an author’s royalty statements which include ebook sales are broken down by format (via a different ISBN). If you want to share, even anonymously, that would be awesome. I’ve set up a new gmail account: ebookroyalty@gmail.com. What I(…)
Dec 5 2008
From the press release. (Doesn’t Lori James own Allromanceebooks.com??) In a bold move, Samhain Publishing (www.samhainpublishing.com) announced the purchase of Linden Bay Romance (http://lindenbayromance.com/). In light of the downward spiral of the economy and the rapid consolidation of many of the larger publishers, Samhain Publishing has seized their chance to expand their market share by(…)
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