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Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) and Samsung have partnered to make HMH interactive educational material available on Samsung's Android-powered mobile devices and to bring the HMH Fuse app to Android. The collaboration "will also bring hundreds of HMH titles to Samsung's Learning Hub platform," according to information released by the companies.
Big news out of Hoboken and D.C. today as Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Wiley announce that HMH has acquired several assets from Wiley, namely it's culinary program, Webster's New World Reference and CliffsNotes:
Quoth the press release: “This strategic acquisition reflects HMH’s continued commitment to consumer publishing, and represents an exciting growth opportunity within the culinary market. Even as digital sales increase, the print cookbook segment shows particular strength, both at HMH and within the market in general,” said Gary Gentel, President of HMH’s Trade & Reference division. “The combination of Wiley’s culinary, reference, and CliffsNotes lines with our existing business will significantly strengthen HMH’s market position in both the culinary and reference categories.”
Also heading HMH-ward is Wiley VP and publisher Natalie Chapman, who will head up HMH's culinary program (reporting to General Interest Group Senior Vice President and Publisher Bruce Nichols) as well as a number of Wiley editorial, marketing, publicity, and production staff.
In another development related to the move, HMH Senior Executive Editor Rux Martin will launch Rux Martin Books.
Yesterday, shoppers discovered that Barnes & Noble is carrying books from Amazon Publishing’s New York imprint in stores around the country, despite the company’s insistence that it wouldn’t do so.
Following our story’s publication yesterday, I learned that Barnes & Noble headquarters sent an email to its branches around the country telling them to pull the Amazon titles. This morning, a Barnes & Noble spokeswoman told me, “Our policy has not changed. We are not carrying Amazon titles.”
Singer and songwriter Steve Earle has sold two books to Grand Central Publishing/Hachette Book Group’s Twelve imprint.
He will publish a memoir in 2014 and a historical fiction novel about “a runaway slave who survived the battle of the Alamo” sometime after that book.
OverDrive's industry-leading catalog of eBooks and audiobooks topped 1 million titles in July, with surging demand for eBooks and new publisher partnerships driving unprecedented growth. The fastest growing segments, Children's/Young Adult and International (including popular non-English content), signal exceptional expansion opportunities in library and school markets in the U.S. and overseas. Every day throughout OverDrive's growing network of 19,000 libraries, schools, retailers and device manufacturers (OEMs), millions of readers in 20 countries enjoy popular titles from bestselling authors on Kindle® (U.S. only), iPad®, Nook™, iPhone® and all major eReading devices.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the publishers of Jonah Lehrer's Imagine, have pulled the book from physical shelves as well as online retailers and in e-book form, after he admitted to making up Bob Dylan quotes. And in case you don't want to hang on to your copy just for giggles, there's good news — you'll get your money back.
The children of Boston will reap additional benefits as People's United Bank, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and professional pitcher Jon Lester, who serves as the bank's Massachusetts marketing spokesperson, up the ante in supporting ReadBoston, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that Boston children are proficient readers.
Adding to an existing relationship with ReadBoston, People's United has committed to make a $31 donation - matching the number on Lester's uniform - to the organization for every Lester strikeout up to $5,000.
A look at what publishers are launching in the mobile space.
Houghton Mifflin Co., a leading educational publisher, announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Harcourt Education, Harcourt Trade and Greenwood Heinemann divisions of Reed Elsevier. Houghton Mifflin will acquire the Harcourt businesses for $4 billion, which will consist of $3.7 billion in cash and $300 million in common stock of Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep Group PLC. “When Reed Elsevier announced its intention to sell the Harcourt businesses, we were thrilled to have the opportunity to combine these businesses,” said Barry O’Callaghan, the principal shareholder of Houghton Mifflin. “The addition of the Harcourt businesses to Houghton Mifflin will strengthen our position
Signs of movement toward electronic distribution in publishing continued this week as an announcement was made Wednesday that Houghton Mifflin Co. will be purchased by HM Rivergroup, a newly formed Irish private equity firm led by investor Barry O’Callaghan, for $3.4 billion, including $1.75 billion in cash. The Boston-based Houghton Mifflin, the United State’s fourth largest textbook publisher, is expected to merge with Riverdeep, a Dublin-based software maker known for its educational material. The two companies will be called Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep Group once the deal is complete, HM Rivergroup representatives said. “We are excited about the future of HM Rivergroup and the ability to [capitalize]
