That Didn't Take Long: News Corp. Settles
Who knows why they didn't pay her earlier, but News Corp. has paid
Judith Regan now
They call the settlement "an equitable, confidential settlement, with
no admission of liability by any party." But does it get charged to
HarperCollins' bottom line, or is it a corporate expense? The next
quarterly report, due in early February, may or may not shed further
light.
Release
New POD Options: Perseus and Edwards Partner on In-House Printing
The Perseus Books Group is returning to print-on-demand via its own
facility with a new partnership with printer Edwards Brothers to set up
a digital print center in the publisher's Jackson, TN distribution
center. The in-house operation should be set up by this fall, and in
the meantime they will use Edwards Brothers' outside machines to "ramp
up titles in the program."
Perseus will offer the service to all of their distribution clients and
use the capability for their own imprints. CEO David Steinberger says
it's "the first of a range of digital services that we are making
available to our independent publisher clients."
Steinberger says they are able to offer digital printing solution to
clients "on attractive terms" drawing on the scale of their overall
operation. Client pricing is designed to cover the company's direct and
related costs. "The only way we will make money is if this leads to
greater sales for the independent publishers we represent. Those
greater sales will mean more money for independent publishers, for us
and for booksellers."
The offer is non-exclusive, so nothing prevents clients from continuing
to work with other vendors such as Lightning Source and Booksurge at
the same time. Steinberger notes, "our in-house publishers currently
print tens of thousands of units per month through digital print. We
expect that volume to increase significantly with clients joining in."
Perseus was an early player with in-house on-demand printing, at one
time running their own facility in Boulder, Co. After closing that
operation they moved to a Donnelly-based short-run printing solution.
More New POD Options: Ingram Works on ABA Store-As-Publisher Program
At a session at the ABA's Winter Institute, representatives from Ingram
and Carmichael's Bookstore in Louisville presented an experimental
program designed to make it easier for member stores to set up their
own publishing programs in conjunction with Lightning Source.
The vision is that independent stores can serve as "niche publishers
focused on regional and local interests," leveraging relationships
within their communities and using their expertise to identify public
domain material appropriate for reprint. Conceivably, stores can also
offer their own "self-publishing" services to patrons looking for a
place to launch and sell their manuscripts.
Ingram projected set-up costs of approximately $150 to $200 to make a
book ready for print-on-demand fulfillment. While stores can elect to
publish for all customers by setting the retail and wholesale prices,
the p&l is clearly most advantageous when the store is selling
the
books directly at retail as well as publishing them.
As presented, the hope is to formalize a program by this year's BEA.
Moderating the panel, the ABA's Len Vlahos underscored that it's an
idea that "bears further investigation" though the organization is not
sure yet if the concept "really works economically yet" for member
stores. There are also a number of questions about rights, clearances,
royalties, liability and other components of the publishing process
that the organization may or may not provide formal guidance and
guidelines
on.
But for stores excited by the possibilities, Ingram made clear that
they offer such services already, even without a formal ABA program.
For that matter, though Lightning Source is not trying to aggressively
compete with the pod self-publishers that comprise a significant part
of their customer base, the company does already deal with individual
customers on a direct basis.
The Full Story
Today's complete Lunch Deluxe includes these additional stories and
links:
Now Paper Questions Beah Story from 1996, Too
Hollywood Writers: Will Author for Food
Book Reveals Sordid Details of Cornwell Affair
Classics in Korea
That's on top of the stories you missed last week, almost 130 deals
that went out last night in our full round-up, and capsule coverage of
over 100 reviews from all the top newspapers yesterday.
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Personnel News and Announcements
Al Greco has been promoted to the new position of vp, director, adult
retail sales, overseeing the top three chains and foreign language
sales. Tom Cox moves up to vp, mass merchandiser and distributor sales;
Paul Kozlowski is promoted to the new position of vp, director, sales
marketing; Glenn Ellis moves from the children's division to take over
Kozlowski's old job of vp, director, adult field sales, and Christian
Waters becomes vp, director, sales planning.
Separately, vp, director adult mass merchandise sales George Fisher is
retiring after 35 years in book publishing. He says in a memo, "I am
moving to another chapter in my life for personal reasons and for my
family. It's that simple."
Community Will Blog for Ailing Author
The paperback of Patry Francis's debut THE LIAR'S DIARY releases
tomorrow and a large coalition of authors, agents, publishing
professionals, journalists and bloggers has formed to publicize the
release following Francis's recent diagnosis of an aggressive form of
cancer.
Rallied by ITW members Laura Benedict and Karen Dionne, along with
Susan Henderson and Jessica Keener, over 300 people from the publishing
community have agreed to mention her book online on release day.
Participating authors include Khaled Hosseini, Marcus Sakey, Douglas
Preston, Lorenzo Carcaterra, Caroline Leavitt, Jacquelyn Mitchard, MJ
Rose and Jennifer Weiner.
See
the full list
Francis's
blog
Lots of New Jobs
We've added another 7 new job listings just since Friday at our
industry-leading Job Board, the latest among about 105 opportunities
still live in all.
For employers, we provide the unbeatable combination of the largest
circulation in the business by far, a total focus on book publishing
only, and the best prices anywhere.
And for job-seekers, we present great new possibilities every day and
conveniences like an RSS ping to keep you posted on every new offering.
Among the latest:
Public Relations Person [Full Time]
Brian Tracy International (Solana Beach, CA)
Project Editor- ST [Full Time]
BSM- NY (New York, NY)
Sales Representative [Full Time]
Asia Pacific Offset (San Francisco, CA)
International Sales Assistant [Full Time]
The Perseus Books Group (New York, NY)
Assistant/Associate Editor [Full Time]
HarperCollins Publishers (New York, NY)
Commissioning Editor, Penguin Group (Canada) [Full Time]
Penguin Group (Canada), Pearson Canada (Toronto, ON Canada)
Managing Editor/Designer [Full Time]
SmartInk Books (Park Slope - Brooklyn, NY)
Publishersmarketplace.com/jobs
Employers:
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