Books

Industry Moves: Simon & Schuster Shuffles Digital Deck Amid Hires, Promotions And A Departure - 0 Comments
Posted By Amanda Natividad - Thu 15 May 2008 07:08 PM PST

Simon & Schuster Digital has made key additions and changes to its existing staff: -- Adrian Norman joins as VP-marketing and new products and former Oxygen Media CTO Steve Morgan…

Starbucks Cedes Management Of Hear Music Label To Partner; Will Focus On Digital; Lombard Out - 0 Comments
Posted By Staci D. Kramer - Thu 24 Apr 2008 05:22 PM PST

Once again, Starbucks is changing course when it comes to entertainment. The company announced today it is pulling out of direct management of the Hear Music label and instead will…

BBC America Assembles Ad Sales Team For First Cross-Platform Deals - 0 Comments
Posted By David Kaplan - Tue 08 Apr 2008 02:54 PM PST

BBC Worldwide is expanding its North American ad sales operations, allowing for selling ads across BBC.com and its related cable channels for the first time, the commercial arm of UK’s…

ADVERTISE ON PAIDCONTENT

Hearst Interactive Backing Kindle-Like E-Book Reader Startup FirstPaper - 0 Comments
Posted By Rafat Ali - Sat 05 Apr 2008 12:52 PM PST

Hearst Interactive, the digital media investment arm of Hearst Corp, is incubating a Kindle-like e-book reader, paidContent.org has learned, and the separate venture is called FirstPaper. The stealth startup is…

HarperCollins To Establish Internet-Focused Unit; Wants To Offload Risk: Report - 0 Comments
Posted By Joseph Weisenthal - Thu 03 Apr 2008 06:54 PM PST

Publisher HarperCollins plans to launch an internet-focused unit that will eschew author advances, according to a somewhat odd WSJ report. Besides eliminating advances, the currently unnamed unit won’t accept returns…

Amazon Tightens Noose on Print-On-Demand Publishers; Insists They Use Company’s Own Service - 2 Comments
Posted By Rafat Ali - Thu 27 Mar 2008 11:24 PM PST

Amazon.com (NSDQ: AMZN), which has brushed with monopolistic tendencies before, is doing just that, this time in the print-on-demand business, where it is asking such publishers that they will have…

Ebooks Catalog OverDrive Adds MP3 Audiobooks; Borders Signs On First - 3 Comments
Posted By David Kaplan - Tue 18 Mar 2008 09:01 PM PST

Ebooks distributor OverDrive is expanding its online catalog to include MP3 audiobooks, the company told us. Publishers who are participating in OverDrive’s audiobooks program include Random House Audio, Blackstone Audiobooks,…

Random House To Sell Audiobooks Without DRM - 0 Comments
Posted By David Kaplan - Mon 25 Feb 2008 08:17 AM PST

Random House will begin selling its online audiobooks without DRM protection starting next month, according to WSJ, confirming an earlier report on BoingBoing. The Bertelsmann-owned publisher’s Random House Audio division…

New Borders Stores Go Digital - 4 Comments
Posted By David Kaplan - Fri 15 Feb 2008 02:40 PM PST

As Borders’ readies its revamped online store, this week the bookseller unveiled the first of 14 new brick and mortar locations with additional digital ties. BillboardBiz reports that the new…

Broadband Content Bits: AppleTV; MSNBC.com; Mars-Facebook; HarperCollins; Tiscali; Dennis - 0 Comments
Posted By Amanda Natividad - Thu 14 Feb 2008 03:42 PM PST

-- AppleTV update launches after two week delay: Apple quietly launched its free AppleTV update this week, after having postponed the software two weeks ago. Now users have wireless access…

Self-Help Site First30Days Raises $5 Million First Round Funding - 0 Comments
Posted By Amanda Natividad - Mon 11 Feb 2008 02:49 PM PST

New York-based First30Days, a sort of self-help site focused on guiding its readers through change, today launched its beta version and closed a first round funding. The round of $5…

Random House To Start Selling By The Chapter; HarperCollins To Post Free Books Online - 1 Comment
Posted By Rafat Ali - Sun 10 Feb 2008 08:42 PM PST

This is not the first time both book publishing heavyweights have pushed online sampling...old wine in a new bottle, if you ask me. -- Random House: This experiment is more…

Industry Moves: Elinor Hirschhorn Joins Simon & Schuster As First Chief Digital Officer - 0 Comments
Posted By Staci D. Kramer - Mon 04 Feb 2008 10:01 AM PST

Elinor Hirschhorn joins Simon & Schuster as EVP and the new position of chief digital office. Hirschhon, most recently EVP-corporate development and strategy at CSTV, will be responsible for all…

Eisner’s Latest: A Vuguru-Putnam Production Of Robin Cook’s Upcoming Thriller: Report - 0 Comments
Posted By Staci D. Kramer - Fri 25 Jan 2008 09:57 AM PST

Michael Eisner’s Vuguru and publisher G.P. Putnam are tying up for a deal breathlessly reported by the NY Post as a “first-of-its-kind collaboration.” Vuguru, partnering with Cyber Group Animation and…

Dennis Publishing Buys Online Current Affairs Mag First Post - 0 Comments
Posted By David Kaplan - Wed 09 Jan 2008 03:24 PM PST

Dennis Publishing has bought British online daily news magazine The First Post, the company said. Financial terms were not disclosed. The new addition is intended to complement Dennis’ main news…

Broadband Content Bits: Joost/NBA/PBS; Chicago Tribune; MySpace; Freemantle - 0 Comments
Posted By David Kaplan - Tue 18 Dec 2007 03:41 PM PST

-- Joost: Two new agreements with two very different programmers: the NBA and PBS. With the NBA, Joost will run “Instant Classic” basketball games and video highlights for the remainder…

First Look: Amazon’s Kindle Reader: The Gap Between Description and The Device - 10 Comments
Posted By Joseph Weisenthal - Mon 19 Nov 2007 12:30 PM PST

After today’s festivities concluded, I eventually got a chance to sit down and play with Amazon’s (NSDQ: AMZN) Kindle. The first thing to note is that the screen isn’t like…

Amazon.com’s Kindle Book Reader: The Details And The Devil - 19 Comments
Posted By Rafat Ali - Sun 18 Nov 2007 12:50 PM PST

So it is a bit ridiculous that Amazon.com (NSDQ: AMZN) has been trying to keep us from disclosing the details on its Kindle e-book device, while giving Newsweek a cover…

Amazon.com Finally To Launch Reader Next Week: Report - 0 Comments
Posted By Rafat Ali - Thu 15 Nov 2007 04:42 PM PST

So says report in News.com, saying it will be launched on Monday in NYC. We have written about it before, here. News.com says that “Kindle” is equipped with a Wi-Fi…

Citing Piracy Concerns, Penguin Pulls Out Of eMusic’s Audiobooks Download Service - 0 Comments
Posted By David Kaplan - Mon 22 Oct 2007 07:57 AM PST

Less than a month after it began selling downloads of DRM-free audiobooks, MP3 online retailer eMusic has found itself unable to keep Penguin Audio’s 150 titles as part of its…

In Latest Bid To Push Ebooks, Sony Partners With Borders On E-Commerce Store - 0 Comments
Posted By David Kaplan - Thu 04 Oct 2007 01:06 PM PST

For the past few years, Sony (NYSE: SNE) and others have been trying get mass adoption of ebooks. And with each effort, the question goes “is the world ready for…

Amazon.com To Launch Wireless eBook Reader; Google To Start Charging For Digital Books Access - 6 Comments
Posted By Rafat Ali - Wed 05 Sep 2007 09:47 PM PST

Two separate developments in the eBooks/digital books world, reported by NYT: -- Amazon.com (NSDQ: AMZN) is launching an eBook device called The Kindle, in October, and will be priced at…

Microsoft And Google Battle For Publishers’ Hearts At BookExpo - 0 Comments
Posted By David Kaplan - Fri 01 Jun 2007 05:46 AM PST

Microsoft and Google unveiled more details about their respective digital library plans at this week’s BookExpo America in New York. Both sought to couch their individual projects in the friendliest…

Media Predict Sets Up Virtual Betting Parlor For Books - 0 Comments
Posted By David Kaplan - Tue 22 May 2007 05:32 AM PST

Another entry in the media business model fray:Media Predict , a virtual market that lets users wager on the likely success of a book proposal, unsigned band or TV pilot.…

Storytelling Social Net FanLib Launches With $3 Million In Funding - 4 Comments
Posted By David Kaplan - Fri 18 May 2007 08:34 AM PST

Until it launched this past week, FanLib, a site dedicated to showcasing fan fiction, had been working in stealth mode after raising a previously unannounced $3 million from H.I.G. Ventures…