Hachette Book Group

Hachette Book Group Issues New Environmental Goals
December 21, 2016 at 11:39 am

The Hachette Book Group continues to be among the publishers most committed to protecting the environment. The publisher just released an update on how it has performed in meeting several environment objectives and announced some new goals for the 2017-2020 period. In two areas where many publishers have active environment policies—use of certified paper and…

Hachette Livre Acquires Majority Stake in Mobile App Company Brainbow
December 20, 2016 at 12:29 pm

Hachette Livre has acquired a majority stake in a London-based mobile app company, Brainbow Ltd. Brainbow, founded in 2012, created the brain-training app Peak, a mobile digital subscription service that has accrued 15m downloads around the world. It was named Apple's "Best App" in 2014, while Google Play chose it as its "Best Self Improvement App" in 2015 and 2016. Peak is also a Future Fifty…

Hachette Streamlines Apps Strategy
December 5, 2016 at 2:15 pm

Hachette UK has "canned" many of its apps to focus on "fewer and better" following its acquisition of mobile apps and games developer Neon Play in June, its chief executive Tim Hely Hutchinson has revealed. At the same time, he said in the future games could be as important to its business as children’s books or…

Hachette to Bring in New Royalty Statement System in 2018
October 14, 2016 at 1:12 pm

Hachette will be bringing in more regular, clearer and more detailed royalty statements for authors by the end of 2018, the company has said in a letter to its authors. Writing his annual end of year letter to Hachette authors sent out yesterday evening (13th October), c.e.o Tim Hely Hutchinson said: "After consulting widely with…

"Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" Author Sued by Publisher
August 31, 2016 at 2:03 pm

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies author Seth Grahame-Smith is being sued by his publisher for delivering a manuscript that Hachette claims is “an appropriation of a 120-year-old public-domain work”. Grahame-Smith, who unleashed the zombie mashup on the world with the surprise 2009 hit Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and went on to write the bestseller…

What Do the Financial Reports from the Big Five Book Publishers Tell Us?
August 3, 2016 at 1:10 pm

This post examines the latest quarterly financial reports from the big 5 book publishers and tries to draw some conclusions from the data. The big 5 are, of course, Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster. These companies are often seen as emblematic of the state of traditional trade book publishing in the…

Press Release: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers Enhances Young Adult Ebooks Through Immersive Music Soundtracks with Booktrack Technology Platform
July 21, 2016 at 2:51 pm

NEW YORK — July 21, 2016 — Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, a division of Hachette Book Group, and reading technology pioneer Booktrack (www.booktrack.com) launch a new generation of ebooks with an industry-first partnership to bring soundtracks to young adult novellas. The collaboration offers YA readers an innovative new way to experience their favorite…

Hachette U.K. Buys Mobile Game Company Neon Play & Will Create Stand-Alone Mobile Business
June 17, 2016 at 2:13 pm

Hachette has bought mobile games development studios Neon Play in a “substantial” acquisition. Hachette c.e.o. Tim Hely Hutchinson has said the acquisition “could be one of several” for the company in the app space. Neon Play was founded by co-owners Oli Christie and Mark Allen in Cirencester in 2010 and to date has created over 30 games, including Paper…

Big Publishing Is Not as Big Anymore
May 24, 2016 at 1:58 pm

According to Publisher’s Weekly, a report by the Association of American Publishers’ shows that overall publishing industry sales fell by 2.6% last year when compared to figures from 2014. Now that we have a clearer picture of the industry’s struggles in 2015, we can tell that sales declined in five of the seven major markets.…

Japanese Pub Takes Majority Stake in Hachette's Yen Press
April 12, 2016 at 2:37 pm

Kadokawa, a major Japanese publisher of manga, prose and digital content, has taken a majority stake in Yen Press, the Hachette Book Group’s manga and graphic novel imprint. Kodakawa plans to turn the imprint into Yen Press LLC, a joint venture between HBG and Kadokawa. Kakokawa has taken a 51% stake in Yen Press LLC,…