The failure of a recent bid to merge two large publishing companies shines a light on a central issue of cultural powerDespite a rise in self-publishing, commercial publishers are still the main gatekeepers of what arrives on our bookshelves. As such, they have great cultural and – if a book takes off – economic power. A case decided in a US court this week provided an insight into just how much of that power is now concentrated in a small handful of multinational companies.At issue was a planned merger of Simon & Schuster with Penguin Random House (PRH) – two of the so-called big five, which between them control 90% of the US publishing market, a fact not always obvious to the casual observer, as books usually carry on their spines the names of imprints, or subdivisions, of the parent company. PRH, itself the result of a mega-merger in 2013, runs about 300 imprints. Given the reach of these companies – PRH is active in more than 20 countries – the Department of Justice’s successful argument that the planned $2.2bn deal would “exert outsized influence over which books are published in the United States and how much authors are paid for their work” applies globally. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2022-11-04 18:25:28 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 10/05/2011 - 12:22 The Ed Victor Literary Agency, one of the most powerful agencies in London, has launched its own ebook and print on demand venture, focusing initially on putting back into circulation out of print books or those on which... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Tue, 10/05/2011 - 15:50 Book sales bounced back after a dire seven days in the week of the Royal Wedding in which physical book sales plummeted to an eight-year low. According to Nielsen BookScan data, spending in the seven days to 7th May was up... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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And the winner of this years Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre is... the Drama Book Shop, an independent New York City bookstore dating to 1917, 30 years older than the Tony Awards. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 09/05/2011 - 15:19 BBC Radio 5 Live has launched a Blokey Book Club to encourage men to read more fiction. The Mens Hour show formed the club, which will ask listeners to recommend and comment on their favourite fiction through the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The editor Robert Loomis, who is retiring from Random House after 54 years, is known for nurturing writers including Maya Angelou, William Styron, Shelby Foote and Calvin Trillin. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2011-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A $5 million lawsuit against Simon & Schuster over a book by former President Jimmy Carter was dropped by the plaintiffs on Thursday, three months after it was filed. The plaintiffs in the class-action suit had argued that Mr. Carter's "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," about the Arab-Israeli... Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2011-05-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Turkish newspaper publisher Turkuvaz Medya Group whose titles include the daily Sabah are now benefiting from an upgrade to their Harland Simon press control systems. Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2011-05-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 06/05/2011 - 16:25 William Heinemann is to publish a prequel to Mario Puzo's The Godfather series, written by author Ed Falco and based on an unproduced screenplay by Puzo. Publisher Jason Arthur bought UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Paul Jowdy, formerly vice president and publisher at Conde Nasts Details and Details.com, is now vice president and publisher of Every Day with Rachael Ray. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-05-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Thu, 05/05/2011 - 15:22 New imprint Notting Hill Editions launches today (5th May), with the aim of revitalising essay publishing. Essays by George Perec, Roland Barthes, Lavinia Greenlaw and Jonathan Keates, accompanied by introductions by the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Barnes & Noble Inc. will unveil a new electronic book reader later this month, the bookseller told analysts and investors on Wednesday, according to a federal filing released after the close of trading. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-05-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 05/05/2011 - 09:35 Culture minister Ed Vaizey has suggested the results of the Hargreaves intellectual property review should not be feared by publishers, giving the earliest indication that the review takes into account industry concerns.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon.com Inc. is expanding its fast-growing publishing business with a new line of romance books, its latest quest for original content to distinguish its print and digital bookselling services. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-05-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Wed, 04/05/2011 - 09:00 Alison Starling is to join Octopus Publishing Group as publisher. Starling was publishing director at Ryland, Peters & Small for 12 years, commissioning titles such as The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. She joins OPG on 9th May and will commission... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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All of those Amazon Kindle sales -- and, presumably, sales of competitive ebook readers from Barnes & Noble and Apple -- have made an impact at publisher Simon & Schuster. The CBS unit says Q1 digital sales doubled over the previous year, and now represent 18 percent of the company's the... Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-05-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 03/05/2011 - 08:25 Educational publisher Evans Publishing has filed a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) after saying the school and library market has faced an "extremely tough 18 months". The 103-year-old company, which trades under the name... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Publishers Association have released new figures which explain how much damage ebooks are doing to their paper based alternatives. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2011-05-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Monday nights Sandra Boynton book event at the Barnes & Noble on Manhattans Upper East Side looked like a pretty normal book signing--normal for Boynton, the bestselling childrens book author, anyway. Toddlers and slightly older kids, some dressed in pajamas, crammed into the event space,... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-05-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Tue, 03/05/2011 - 11:42 E-book sales at Hachette UK quadrupled in the first quarter of 2011 and are more than 5% of HUKs trade sales, the company revealed today (3rd May), adding that it was beginning to catch up with the US, where ebooks now account... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 03/05/2011 - 08:30 High street retailer Argos intends to increase its online book range from 500 to 5,000 titles over the next month. The chain store, known for stocking a large range of non-food products, launched its books category on its... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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