Hachette Book Group

Industry luminaries scry the spins ahead in the helter skelter revolution at the centre of their business.

Anna Rafferty, Penguin digital managing director
"I predict more digital for publishers in 2014.  I'm not being (completely) facetious, I mean more digitalness in all parts of the industry, not just in ebook product output. We're going to be using all of the creepy/fun/incredibly clever targeted and personalised marketing opportunities that our connected lives now afford to the smart marketer to reach, and then truly delight, relevant readers.

Bookish, a struggling website started by three large book publishers less than a year ago, has been sold to Zola Books, a start-up e-book retailer, the parties announced Monday. The purchase price was undisclosed.

The deal highlights the challenges that publishing houses are having in competing against Amazon.com. Three of the five top publishers - the Hachette Book Group, Simon & Schuster and Penguin USA - conceived of Bookish in 2011 as a book recommendation site to compete with Amazon.

Lagardère released its 2013 third quarter results today. Highlights of the company's performance are as follows: At Hachette Book Group:  US sales were up 11% in "a particularly dynamic" third quarter, notes Lagardère's press release.  HBG had 191 print and 73 ebooks on the New York Times bestseller list thus far in 2013, with 45 #1 bestsellers to date, a 45% increase over the same period last year. 

In July, a US district court judge found "compelling evidence" that Apple Inc. (AAPL) had been guilty of conspiring with no less than five major book publishers to raise the price of e-books, in an effort to take a bite out of the dominance of leading online retailer Amazon.com (AMZN)

Hachette Book Group has partnered with our sister company, Hachette UK, in a new ebook distribution arrangement that will significantly expand our presence in English language markets worldwide.

The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) is pleased to announce the winners of its inaugural Industry Awards, presented at its Annual Meeting of Members on September 27, 2013.

Book Business and Publishing Executive magazines have announced the winners of the 2013 Publishing Innovator of the Year Awards. Active Interest Media, Sourcebooks, and the American Physical Society have been selected as this year's winners. This award recognizes publishing companies who have demonstrated significant innovation in the past year. A winner is chosen from each of the following three categories: book, magazine, and scientific, technical & medical (STM) publishers.

The United States offered to ease the terms of a proposed civil injunction against Apple Inc for conspiring to raise ebook prices, but the company said the revised proposal is still designed to "inflict punishment" and must be rejected. At issue is how to ensure that Apple does not violate antitrust law, following a July 10 ruling by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan that it had conspired with five major publishers to undermine pricing by rivals including Amazon.com Inc, which dominates the market for electronic books.

The federal judge who ruled that Apple Inc violated antitrust law by conspiring with five major publishers to raise prices of e-books has scheduled a May 2014 trial to determine damages, according to an order made public on Wednesday. Absent an earlier resolution, U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan would be expected at the trial to consider whether Apple should pay damages that could reach hundreds of millions of dollars. Last month, Cote sided with the federal government and 33 U.S. states and territories in concluding that Apple conspired with the publishers to

(Reuters) - Five of the largest U.S. publishers objected to tough new restrictions sought by the U.S. government against Apple Inc for illegally conspiring to raise e-book prices. In a motion filed on Wednesday in U.S. district court in Manhattan, the publishers said a proposed final order in the case would effectively prevent Apple from entering agreements that limit its ability to discount books. The publishers said provisions proposed by the U.S. Justice Department would instead punish the publishers, which had already reached settlements with the federal government and dozens of states, paying $166 million