It’s been a very fruitful year at The Independent Publishing Magazine, and for me personally with the publication of The Memory of Trees. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for all their support, input, comments, debate and friendship over the past twelve months. The publishing world continues to change and develop, and…
HarperCollins CEO Condemns Wylie Agency
The Bookseller is reporting this morning that HarperCollins is the latest large publishing house to voice its opposition to moves by the Wylie Agency to lauch a digital publishing imprint. The Bookseller piece quotes HarperCollins CEO, Victoria Barnsley: “HC will vigorously protect its rights and our authors’ interests by ensuring their work gets to the broadest possible audience.…
NPD Group: PC Game Digital Downloads Reaching Parity With In-Store Purchases
I don’t normally cover the software games market here, but I thought this piece over on Joystiq.com quoting a press release from market research company , The NPD Group, was interesting. While US based, it does give us an insight on the PC gaming market, and that sales parity between physical and digital distribution channels…
Irish Distributor CMD Booksource to Close in September (Updated)
(Booksource’s base in Scotland) Yesterday Irish Publishing News revealed that Irish books distributor CMD Booksource is to close its Irish operation from September 30th. This is a big blow for quite a number of publishers in Ireland, including UCD Press, Columba Press, Liberties Press and Mercier Press. CMD Booksource opened in Ireland in 2009 and is owned by…
The Philosophy and Vision of a Writer and Publisher
Alessandro Gallenzi is MD at independent publishers Alma and Oneworld Classics and The Bookseller this morning ran a piece on the London-based literary press securing a global sales and distribution deal with Bloomsbury. I am delighted for Alma and Oneworld Classics. My bookshelves are filled with titles from the old John Calder catalogue, and the…
PublishAmerica Discontinues Trade Paperback Books (UPDATE)
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…
Pearson is The World’s Largest Publisher
Pearson is the world’s largest publisher, according to a ranking list compiled by Ruediger Wischenbart on behalf of French trade magazine Livres Hebdoof. Details of the top ten global publishers were released by The Bookseller this morning, who will release the full ranking list later this week. “Despite the tough economic climate, and the threat…
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…
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…