PublishAmerica (PBA 139.58) authors have been informed by email that the company is discontinuing trade paperback editions and books will only be available in hardback editions. It is a bizzare and troubling turn of events for its listed authors. As things stand with PublishAmerica, paperback retail prices are already considered excessive, and this latest development, if it is…
When Booksellers Become Small Presses
What would happen if local bookstores decided to become small press publishers? Well, according to today’s Publishers Weekly article, New Indie Bookselling Model: Publish Own Handselling Favorites, it is already happening. The article looks at the moves by two bookstore owners in Albany New York and Massachusetts using both print on demand and offset to…
Barnes & Noble Launch Nook Wi-Fi For $149
Barnes & Noble booksellers this morning announced the launch of the Nook Wi-Fi ereader. The device will sell at a very competitive $149. Barnes and Noble has also announced that the Nook 3G will be reduced to $199. From the press release. New York, New York – June 21, 2010 – Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s…
Self-Published Author Boyd Morrison’s Huffington Post Article
In July last year we ran a short piece on self-published author Boyd Morrison and the fact that he had landed a book deal with Simon & Schuster. Boyd Morrison had been selling his books on his website and also through Amazon’s Kindle. What was very clear about Morrison over the past couple of years…
Amazon Ratchet it Up a Level For Distributors
The US publishing industry may have another spat on the horizon to accompany the current dispute between John Wiley and The Authors Guild. Amazon is yet again flexing its muscles, this time in the direction of distributors and their publisher clients. Amazon is introducing a new program called ‘Levels of Service’ (PDFdownload). While there is nothing unusuual about…
Amazon Reveal Paid and Free Kindle Bestsellers By the Hour
Amazon has introduced a new feature to the Kindle Store. Every hour, amazon will provide live updates and present separate ‘Top 100 Bestsellers’ for both paid and free Kindle e-book sales. As of now, Tues 3.28 EST, Stieg Larsson’s The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest is to of the paid pile, and Cynthia Ruchti’s…
Texas AG Turns Magnifying Glass on eBook Market
The attorney general for the state of Texas has approached two of the main publishing players who introduced the agency model for e-books and requested undisclosed documentation. At the moment, the Texas attorney general is believed to be making preliminary inquiries about pricing practices operating in the electronic book market and the potential effects for…
Borders Group Lifted By $25m Investment
Vector Group Ltd will invest $25 million in Borders Group US through a private purchase of 11.1 million shares of stock. The move is intended to develop and improve the Borders brand, which has experience a difficult period of trading over the past eighteen months. From today’s press release: “ANN ARBOR, Mich., May 21, 2010 /PRNewswire via…
WSJ Article: E-Books Rewrite Bookselling
Today’s edition of the Wall Street Journal has quite an extensive article on e-books and the pressures online sales are having on brick ‘n’ mortar stores. The article takes a specific focus on Barnes & Noble and its 1362 stores. The Independent Publishing Magazine | TIPM Media
Irish Retailers and Publishers Ready for e-Book Challenges
The Irish Independent takes a look at the Irish book retail market and the growth of e-books in their e-Thursday section. Carissa Casey has written the article and she discovers that Irish retailers and publishers are poised to embrace the latest challenging chapter in the story of the publishing industry. “Advances in technology have also brought an entirely new threat to…