Penguin Random House aims to bookend Amazon's rule

Almost overnight, the New York book publishing landscape got a lot smaller—or bigger, if you happen to work for Random House or Penguin, which last week became the publishing industry behemoth Penguin Random House. With more than 10,000 employees, the new global publisher will control 25% of the market for general-interest books, putting out more than 15,000 titles—from Dan Brown's thrillers to Khaled Hosseini's best-sellers—from nearly 250 imprints and houses.Random House parent Bertelsmann, the German media giant, holds 53% of the new company, while Penguin's London-based parent, Pearson, maintains 47%. For the foreseeable future, Random House will stay put in midtown and Penguin will continue operating down on Hudson Street.The move to consolidate comes as publishers look for more bargaining power with Amazon, which dominates retailing while competing as a publisher. The New York houses are also looking for efficiencies in their two businesses—physical books, which require warehousing, and ebooks, which demand innovation.The Penguin Random merger was completed just days after Hachette Book Group announced its purchase of Disney's Hyperion, an essentially defunct adult general-interest imprint. Hachette gets a catalog of 1,000 titles and 25 yet-to-be published books, Disney can focus on children's books and television-related franchise titles, and Hyperion becomes a Hachette imprint. Continue reading at 'Crains New York'

[ Crains New York | 2013-07-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #foreseeable future #stay put #published books

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Penguin Random House aims to bookend Amazon's rule'


Fiction Rules E-Books

Fiction is the leading sales driver of ebooks, and just how dominant that segment has been is clearly seen in a new market study just released by Bowker. According to "2010–2011 U.S. Book Consumer Demographics & Buying Behaviors Annual Review," fiction accounted for 61% of unit sales in 2010... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-06-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Penguin "amplifies" Kerouac classic

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 20/06/2011 - 14:00 Penguin has released an iPad version of Jack Kerouac's legendary beat novel On the Road, which includes side by side comparisons of Kerouac's scroll draft and the final version. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #jack kerouac #final version


What Amazon Must Do to Save Kindle Direct Publishing

As awesome as Kindle Direct Publishing is, it will be crushed by spam if Amazon doesn't take some action to control the amount of junk titles being dumped on it. Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2011-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #amazon doesn


Morpurgo wins Red House award

Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Tue, 14/06/2011 - 12:40 Michael Morpurgo has won the Red House Children's Book Award 2011 for Shadow (HarperCollinsChildren's Books) becoming the only author to win the award three times. Angela McAllister and Alison Edgson's Yuck! That's not a... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #younger children #older readers #young adults #book groups


Apple Changes Rules on In-App Subs

Apple has changed its rules for in-app subscriptions and content access in the App Store. Reports are indicating that the most significant change is access to content purchased outside of the app without a corresponding in-app subscription requirement, and a concomitant relaxation of pricing... Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-06-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #app store #significant change


Room leads Amazon Orange sales race

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 07/06/2011 - 11:40 Amazon.co.uk has announced that Orange Prize shortlisted author Emma Donoghue’s Room (Picador) is leading sales on the website ahead of rival contenders for the award. The Orange Prize for Fiction is revealed tomorrow (8th... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #website ahead #orange prize #nearest rival #aminatta fornas #love bloomsbury


Penguin signs up Walliams memoir

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 03/06/2011 - 08:55 Penguin has signed one of its big non-fiction titles for Christmas 2012, winning a hotly contested auction for a memoir by "Little Britain" star David Walliams. Katy Follain, Michael Joseph non-fiction publisher, and Louise... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #penguin signs #katy follain #louise moore #michael joseph


Unbound aims for 40 books in year one

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 03/06/2011 - 14:25 Unbound, a publishing platform that allows readers to choose what is published, was devised as a response to the “difficulties of the existing publishing model”, with the programme aiming to get 35 to 40 projects off the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #publishing platform


Chiki Sarkar appointed Penguin India publisher

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 27/05/2011 - 10:18 Chiki Sarkar, former editor-in-chief of Random House India, has been appointed publisher of Penguin India. Chiki had worked at Random House India since 2006, working with authors including Anita Desai, Salman Rushdie and... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #appointed publisher #penguin india #salman rushdie #jhumpa lahiri


Barnes & Noble Announces New Nook; Amazon Responds with Cheaper 3G

Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch announced the new Nook, aimed at "those turned off by buttons." Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2011-05-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #amazon responds


Amazon reveals frontlist deal for Eisler at BEA

Written By: Gayle Feldman Publication Date: Thu, 26/05/2011 - 08:52 Thriller writer Barry Eisler, who turned his back on a two-book deal for half a million dollars from St Martin’s Press, has decided to accept six figures from Amazon and become one of its first frontlist authors. The Eisler... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #million dollars #buy bn


Penguin to release £30 Jamie's Great Britain in September

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Wed, 25/05/2011 - 09:55 A new Jamie Oliver title, Jamie's Great Britain, will be coming from Michael Joseph this September, containing more than 100 new recipes from around the country. The title, to be released on 30th September, will tie into... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #30th september #great britain #michael joseph


Amazon to open new service centre for Kindle support

Publication Date: Wed, 25/05/2011 - 14:24 Amazon is to open a new customer service centre in Edinburgh this August, with one of its roles to handle technical support for the Kindle. The move will create more than 900 permanent and temporary jobs over the next five years. The centre will be... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Amazon's Publishing Plans Cause Rivals Some Unease

Earlier in the week, Amazon announced that it was hiring Laurence Kirshbaum, the former CEO of Time Warner Book Group, to head a new publishing imprint. This seems like an odd time for Amazon to be making its mark on the pubishing industry: book sales are down, major book chains like Borders are... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2011-05-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #publishing imprint #publishing executive #bookexpo america #digital side


Amazon's Kirshbaum move could reduce competition—BEA

Written By: Gayle Feldman Publication Date: Tue, 24/05/2011 - 09:41 Responses to Amazon.com's hire of Laurence Kirshbaum as publisher have varied from worried to fear of a "dampening" effect on competition among delegates at the BEA conference. Word that started to spread Sunday night was... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #laurence kirshbaum #publishing operation


Kindle E-books Top Print Books Sales on Amazon

It happened. Amazon says ebook sales have surpassed physical book sales on Amazon.com. Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2011-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ebook sales


E-Books Outsell Print Books at Amazon

Amazon.com said that it sold 105 ebooks for every 100 printed books, a milestone that its chief executive, Jeff Bezos, said had occurred sooner than expected. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2011-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #jeff bezos


QOTD: About Those Amazon E-Book Sales…

“As a former Amazon Associate, I can tell you that a great many sales of Kindle Books are for the 99¢ complete Dickens, etc.” –Movie critic and Web publisher Roger Ebert, providing some context for Amazon’s stat about Kindle ebooks outselling print books. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2011-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #kindle books


E-Book Sales Pass Print on Amazon

While the Rapture isn’t scheduled to occur until Saturday, according to members of certain religious fringe groups, it looks like doomsday has come early for publishers of print books. Amazon announced Thursday that sales of ebooks on the site have finally surpassed combined sales of hardcovers... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2011-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #mike shatzkin #mortar stores #forrester research #e-book reading #big deal #forrester analyst


Random's Elton to join HC

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 20/05/2011 - 08:33 Century and Arrow publisher Kate Elton is joining HarperCollins to run its fiction team with publisher Lynne Drew choosing to relinquish management responsibilities and concentrating on her authors. Elton will join in August,... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #join hc #joining harpercollins #fiction team #previously published #karin slaughter #katie fforde #lisa jewell