Month: September 2011
Go Read This | E-Reads Enters Joint Venture with Gollancz for UK Publication of 400 SF E-Book Titles | Publishing In the 21st Century
Fascinating and excellent move!
E-Reads has signed a deal with UK publisher Gollancz to publish e-book editions in the UK and Commonwealth of almost 400 science fiction and fantasy titles as part of Gollancz’s Gateway initiative.
Orion deputy CEO and publisher Malcolm Edwards and Gollancz digital publisher Darren Nash negotiated the deal, which includes works by more than 50 authors, with E-Reads founder and president Richard Curtis and agent Danny Baror of Baror International.Titles by authors such as Greg Bear, Harlan Ellison, James Gunn, Fritz Leiber and George Zebrowski will be published in Gateway editions in 2011.
Go Read This | Amazon in Talks to Launch Digital-Book Library – WSJ.com
Amazon has told publishers it is considering creating a digital-book library featuring older titles, people familiar with the talks said. The content would be available to customers of Amazon Prime, who currently pay the retailer $79 a year for unlimited two-day shipping and for access to a digital library of movies and TV shows.Amazon would offer book publishers a substantial fee for participating in the program, people familiar with the proposal said. Some of these people said that Amazon would limit the amount of books that Amazon Prime customers could read for free every month.
via Amazon in Talks to Launch Digital-Book Library – WSJ.com.
Go Read This | Introduction to The Conversation
I’m pretty sure this is a good idea. It’s like Tor.com for politics and current affairs. Smart and well led by the looks of things. Vertical niches folks, vertical niches!!
This is a new experiment at Random House, an effort to explore whether we can hold an engaging conversation online about different books that we think may shed light on what’s going on in the world right now. The suggestions and the essays will not be limited to Random House books, or to new books, but to any title that strikes us as relevant and worthwhile.
Go Read This | Scholastic, Ruckus Media Form New Digital/Print Imprint
This is a very interesting way to tackle the challenges ahead. It effectively takes the advice of Clayton M. Christensen and creates a new organisation outside the realm of the legacy company. Hope it works:
Children’s digital developer Ruckus Media is joining with Scholastic to create the Scholastic Ruckus imprint, a joint venture that will publish a wide range of children’s and teen content across all platforms, from interactive content and transmedia projects to e-books, enhanced e-books and print. The first titles from the Scholastic Ruckus imprint will be released in 2012.
Cofounded a year ago by former Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing president Rick Richter and Ruckus Media COO Jim Young, Ruckus Media has developed a list of interactive storybook apps and will publish about 40 digital titles this year. In a phone interview, Richter said that under the new imprint, Scholastic will oversee the marketing and distribution of print editions of Ruckus Media’s digital titles through Scholastic’s network of school book clubs and book fairs, libraries and through trade book retailers. Scholastic will also manage the worldwide distribution and publishing rights for both print and digital content coming from the imprint.
via Scholastic, Ruckus Media Form New Digital/Print Imprint.
Eoin Purcell's Blog 