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: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Wed, 04/05/2011 - 09:10 Lonely Planet is launching a range of children's books called Not-for-Parents, and says that it sees children's publishing as a "good route" to grow the business. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 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 - 08:25 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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Three weeks shy of a year ago, St. Martin's Press signed up a book by a Navy SEAL Team Six sniper, chronicling how he became an elite warrior and the battle that nearly cost him his life. Today, with news of Osama Bin Laden's death reverberating around the world, SMP is getting ready for a rush... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-05-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Three weeks shy of a year ago, St. Martin's Press signed up a book by a Navy SEAL Team Six sniper, chronicling how he became an elite warrior and the battle that nearly cost him his life. Today, with news of Osama Bin Laden's death reverberating around the world, SMP is getting ready for a rush... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-05-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Push Pop Press, the brainchild of two former Apple engineers, just got a boost from an innovative former U.S. vice president. After having invented the Internet, Al Gore is back to reinvent the book. Push Pop Press is a digital tool taking books to the next level, making them even more... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2011-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Variety was one of just four magazines kept by Reed Elsevier after it sold off more than 60 different properties over the last three years. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Push Pop Press, a digital book publishing platform, went live with its first title this week, Al Gore's "Our Choice," available as an iOS app for $4.99. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The first time former U.S. vice president Al Gore issued his warning about the dire state of our environment, he used the traditional format of bound paper. To... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With the latest slew of magazine apps launched in the past few weeks comes promising news for publishers in the digital space: publications with an Apple app have seen enough success to try their luck in the Android market. Enter the Droid Apps Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The author of a forthcoming book about the ever-private Harper Lee, author of "To Kill a Mockingbird," insisted on Friday that she had the cooperation of Ms. Lee, two days after Ms. Lee released a statement through her lawyer denying that she had cooperated. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2011-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 28/04/2011 - 08:00 A large proportion of iPad owners in the US have not used the device to read an ebook, a survey from media and publishing forecast firm Simba Information reveals. A report on the firm's "Trade E-Book Publishing 2011"... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Jenny Roper Publication Date: Thu, 28/04/2011 - 06:55 German publisher Gerhard Steidl has been awarded the inaugural outstanding contribution to publishing award at his year's Kraszna-Krausz Book Awards. Steidl received the prize last night (27th April). He still independently... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 28/04/2011 - 08:00 Viking has been scanning the local papers and choosing the most eyebrow-raising headlinesoften for all the wrong reasonsin a tribute to the quirky world of slow news days. Whitstable Mum in Custard Shortage . . And... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Jones and Jenny Roper Publication Date: Wed, 27/04/2011 - 16:00 Book sales dropped 9% last week as the Easter weekend cut into retail time, but the market was still up on the same week last year with sales up 2.1%, a second consecutive week of year-on-year growth after a... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Wed, 27/04/2011 - 09:39 Amazon.com has reported a steep drop in profit despite boosting sales by over a third. Amazon.co.uk also revealed that one print book and four ebooks were among its top 10 bestselling items in the quarter, with the Kindle... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After years of marginal acceptance, ebooks have finally started to eclipse their printed-and-bound ancestors. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Special K is a $1 billion brand in the U.S., selling an estimated 168 million boxes of cereal a year. This spring, Kellogg's and Weldon Owen are hoping a massive marketing campaign can extend the brand's success into the book world. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-04-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In deciding to launch the ABC Video Bookstore, Andrew Morse said the giant media company was looking for a product that could reach viewers who are attached to a digital reading device, be it an iPad, Kindle, or cellphone, and decided that an enhanced ebook was the right one. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-04-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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One of the industry's biggest issues in 2011 is the loss of retail shelf space for print titles. The trend of book retailers devoting less spaceand generating lower salesfrom new books is seen in the recently released 10-k filings from Books-A-Million and Hastings Entertainment. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-04-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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