Hay House

Penguin Random House announced the sale of Author Solutions on Tuesday, leading to headlines stating it has exited the self-publishing business and various commentators congratulating it for cleaning house. Unfortunately, neither of those things are true. Four Penguin Random House-owned vanity presses will remain in operation – Partridge India, Partridge Singapore, Partridge Africa, and MeGustaEscribir…

I have been assembling BEA take-aways from the lively and informative reports of seasoned observers and trade professionals, without having attended in person. These provided me a lot to chew on, along with vivid memories of sitting through panel presentations, hiking through the aisles and corridors, and schmoozing at the booths at the Javits Center. They have added more substance to what I otherwise learn working with new business development and online publication services each day.

Balboa Press, a division of Hay House Inc., and leading self-publisher of personal empowerment books, today announced that author Donna Schwenk's holistic health book, "Cultured Food Life," has been acquired for publishing by Hay House, Inc. Schwenk's book joins a growing list of Balboa Press titles to be acquired by traditional publishers, which includes Gerry Gavin's "Messages from Margaret," Bronnie Ware's "The Top Five Regrets of the Dying" and Karen Noe's "Through the Eyes of Another."

As the self-publishing phenomenon has grown and matured, traditional book publishers have passed through something like the five stages of grief.

Amazon's rollout of a deep-discount pricing program for 600 books last week already is putting downward pressure on eBook pricing. The “Sunshine Deals” offer sells electronic books at price points of 99 cents, $1.99 and $2.99.

(Press Rlease) Encinitas, Calif., January 24, 2011—Michel Kripalani, founder and president of Oceanhouse Media, Inc., today announced the company has crossed the one million mark in paid app downloads on Apple's App Store.

Oceanhouse Media Inc. has released three new "The Berenstain Bears" e-books for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch—the first three titles released as a result of a new e-book licensing relationship with Zondervan.

This two-part essay attempts a survey of electronic media developments in the book industry and their impact on the creative talents and skill-sets required of authors, writers, editors and production people in order to produce new forms of content organization and media mix.

For Oceanhouse Media (OM), a publisher of apps for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, licensing relationships with Dr. Seuss Enterprises, Hay House Publishers and Chronicle Books have helped it to become a player in the children's book space. With the company's recent announcement that the children's classic “ Green Eggs and Ham” was now available for purchase at the App Store, Oceanhouse Media reached a milestone: 100 apps published. After just one week of release, the “Green Eggs and Ham” e-book app achieved its own milestone—it reached the No. 1 position on the App Store book charts for both the iPad and the iPhone. Not bad for a company that's only been around for a little over a year-and-a-half.

Publishers are faced with strategy decisions like never before. As publishing options continue to grow and business models shift seemingly every few months with the introduction of new digital devices or growth of some external pressure, publishers must plan for the future while reacting to the present—a tough situation even without the need to deal with the effects of a down economy.