Scribd, HarperCollins deal casts long digital shadow

Whether publishers want it or not, the Netflix model is coming to the book business.The San Francisco startup Scribd, best known as a site for posting PDFs of documents, announced Tuesday it is launching a multi-platform digital book subscription service that will provide access to a wide range of titles for $9 a month. Users can read ebooks on iOS and Android devices, as well as on Web browsers, and keep as many as 20 titles available for reading offline.Unlike other Netflix-like services that have launched recently, including Manhattan-based Oyster, Scribd is starting with thousands of titles from HarperCollins, or the majority of the publisher's backlist up until July 2012. Getting the cooperation of the so-called Big Five New York publishing houses has been the holy grail of subscription-service startups, and having even one of them represents a significant advance.More than 30 smaller publishers are also working with Scribd, including Sourcebooks, Workman and Kensington.Scribd, founded in 2007, also starts out with a high profile and an enormous user-base: It claims 80 million active readers monthly, and says that the subscription service—which soft-launched in January—has been growing by 60% every month. The company declined to provide subscriber numbers."There's never been an access model rolled out with this level of support and scale," said Trip Adler, Scribd's 29-year-old CEO and co-founder.Publishers have typically shied away from subscription services on the... Continue reading at 'Crains New York'

[ Crains New York | 2013-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins acquires three from Joanna Hickson

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 28/04/2011 - 11:25 HarperCollins has acquired three novels from debut historical fiction author Joanna Hickson. HarperFiction commissioning editor Kate Bradley bought world rights through Jenny Brown at Jenny Brown Associates, with the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How Traditional Media Companies Should Reshape for the Digital Age

In a white paper titled “The Media Company of the Future: The Revolution Goes On”, consulting firm AMR International Consulting Inc. outlines the steps it says traditional companies must take to incorporate technological advances into their business model and stay competitive against “New world”... Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #digital age #media company #business model #stay competitive


McGraw-Hill Reports Double-Digit Growth in First Quarter

McGraw-Hill says revenue grew 7.7 percent to $1. 3 billion while net income jumped 16.2 percent to $120 million in the first quarter of 2011. Revenue in McGraw-Hill's Information & Media segment rose 10.3 percent to $227.5 million while operating profit grew 34.5 percent to $37.4 million. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-04-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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PA welcomes court ruling on Digital Economy Act

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Wed, 20/04/2011 - 12:11 The Publishers Association has said it is "delighted" by the High Court ruling in favour of the government in a legal challenge against the Digital Economy Act. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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S&S signs deal for Smurfs tie-in

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 18/04/2011 - 15:13 Simon & Schuster Children's Books has signed a deal to publish tie-in titles to the forthcoming Smurfs movie. Publishing director Ingrid Selberg bought UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Australia, New Zealand and Canada... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Digital's Nice, But Paper-Over-Board Offers Something Different

Forget digital versus print for a moment, and consider a cookbook's format. Think back to the last time you used a cookbook in the kitchen. Was the book covered in a dust jacket? A cumbersome, flappy dust jacket? If it wasn’t, was that because you had ripped it off? Or were you cooking from an... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Knot Stops Print Edition of The Nest; Converts to Digital-Only

The Knot, whose brands include TheNest.com and TheBump.com, is converting the print version of The Nest to digital. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-04-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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John Murray pics up Harkaway on digital

Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Fri, 15/04/2011 - 11:33 Roland Philipps at John Murray has bought a book on digital written by the author Nick Harkaway, which argues that the new technologies will make us more human. Philipps bought British Commonwealth rights through Patrick Walsh... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Fiction Express seeks interaction from readers for digital series

Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Fri, 15/04/2011 - 08:56 An e-fiction venture aimed at tweens and teenagers is being launched by packager Discovery Books in May. Called Fiction Express, it will invite teenagers to buy books in instalments and to vote to decide the direction of the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Murtagh to take over at HarperCollins Children's from Santos

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 15/04/2011 - 08:44 HarperCollins Children's Books m.d. Mario Santos is leaving the publisher at the end of June to "pursue other career opportunities". Publisher Ann-Janine Murtagh has been promoted to take overall publishing and business... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Profits surge at HarperCollins during 2010

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Thu, 14/04/2011 - 09:21 Profits at HarperCollins surged £25.3m due to "exceptional rights income" in its most recent set of financial results filed at Companies House. For the year ending 30th June, operating profit increased to £29.1m. Turnover was... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Time Inc. Veteran John Squires Lands at Digital Bookstore [MediaMemo]

Longtime Time Inc. executive John Squires, last seen running the magazine industry's version of Hulu, has a new gig: He's at Akademos, a Connecticut-based company that runs digital bookstores for small and mid-sized colleges. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2011-04-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Agents Keeping Foreign Publishers on Digital Leash

As the London Book Fair goes through its annual run this week, American agents are trying to figure out the best way to sell digital rights to foreign publishers in markets that are far behind the U.S. in ebook sales. Even though many international publishers are just starting to dabble in... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Time called on enhanced ebooks at LBF digital conference

Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Sun, 10/04/2011 - 16:03 Enhanced ebooks are dead, discoverability is the most important issue facing ebook vendors, while pricing strategies should be measured against other digital content, not physical books. These were the key themes that emerged... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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MCA reveals pre-LBF deals

Written By: Graeme Neill and Katie Allen Publication Date: Wed, 06/04/2011 - 14:50 A Freddie Mercury biography and a six-figure deal signed following a trans-Atlantic auction are among the pre London Book Fair deals agented by Mulcahy Conway Associates. The agency said it anticipated a busy... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Quercus makes £1m from digital in three months

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 05/04/2011 - 15:22 Quercus has nearly matched the £1m digital revenue it made from ebooks last year in the first three months of 2011. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Braving the Digital Path

Given that nearly 90% of Russian households are expected to have Internet access by 2012, it is easy to see why ebooks, online retailers, and electronic libraries are getting so much attention (and investment interest) in recent years. Russian publishers, fueled by the success of their U.S.... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Historian Weir's backlist to be published digitally

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 04/04/2011 - 13:02 Cornerstone and Vintage are planning to release historian Alison Weir's backlist in ebook format for the first time. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Agents warn publishers over digital rates

Written By: Philip Jones and Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 01/04/2011 - 08:50 Literary agent Sonia Land has warned book publishers they will lose control over authors’ digital backlists unless they improve their royalty offer. Land this week announced her decision to publish 100 of... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ladybird reshapes for digital market

Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Thu, 31/03/2011 - 15:38 Ladybird is updating its image with a new campaign designed to highlight its preschool credentials to families and to grow the market for its digital products. Editorial director Heather Crossley said: “In the past Ladybird... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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