National Book Network (NBN)

Down East Books sold to Maryland publisher; will retain Rockport offices, staff
April 26, 2013

Down East Books, formerly a subsidiary of Down East Enterprise, which also publishes Down East Magazine, has been sold to Maryland-based publishing house Rowman & Littlefield.

According to Down East Enterprise president and CEO Bob Fernald, the sale went into effect on April 1. Down East Books will keep its Rockport offices, as well as editor Michael Steere and two sales representatives, and will retain all but a few of its more than 450 titles in four imprints, including Down East Books, Shooting Sportsman Press, Fly Rod & Reel Books and Countrysport Press.

Rowman & Littlefield Announces Agreement to Publish the Portsmouth Review
March 14, 2013

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers today announced an agreement with the Portsmouth Institute (www.portsmouthinstitute.org) at the Portsmouth Abbey School (www.portsmouthabbey.org) to publish its periodical, the Portsmouth Review. The first two titles in this new publishing program, Newman and the Intellectual Tradition and The Catholic Shakespeare? will be published tomorrow in cloth editions and also available in ebook format.  Subsequent titles in the series to be published later this year and in 2014 include The Catholic William F. Buckley Jr., Modern Science/ Ancient Faith and Catholicism and the American Experience.

Struggling Borders to Meet With Publishers
January 4, 2011

The book chain Borders entered 2011 on an unsteady note, telling major publishers last week that it would delay payments owed to them, and stoking fears that it would not be able to recover from declining sales.


Sales at Borders have fallen and it has delayed paying publishers.

On Monday, Borders executives said they would discuss the company’s plans with publishers at hastily arranged meetings in New York later this week.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group and National Book Network Sign up as First “Pay-Per-Page” Customer of DocZone SaaS XML CMS
April 22, 2010

DocZone by Really Strategies, Inc., the industry’s first award-winning software as a service (SaaS) XML content management system designed for publishers and technical publishers , now offers a new pricing model for publishers: “Pay Per Page.”  …  DocZone’s out-of-the-box features and capabilities include authoring, editing, workflow, indexing, version control, check-in/check-out capabilities, and push-button publishing to PDF, HTML, and EPUB formats.  The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group (RLPG) of Lanham MD became the pilot customer for this new model and adopted the DocZone system for RLPG’s book, ePub, and XML production requirements.

You Can Quote Me on That!
April 1, 2010

Editors’ Picks: Quotes that we love … or at least think are pretty cool (from the past year in Book Business). And, they actually paint a pretty accurate picture of the state of things.

Today's Retail Scene: Are You Prepared to Compete?
October 1, 2009

It used to be straightforward. A publisher sent out a catalog of new releases, promoting certain titles to bookstores. Marketing proceeded through fixed channels and seasonal rituals, and, year after year, everyone knew their place in the dance. Not so anymore.

Industry Statistics: Looking Behind the Numbers
October 1, 2007

Ever since the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) hit upon the theme of “Making Information Pay” for its annual spring event several years ago, it has been filling the room with industry analysts and marketing and business development executives eager for new insights into the mysteries of our industry’s operation, well-being and future. The attendees are generally more interested, I think, in road signs pointing to where we’re going than in measures of where we are—more acutely aware that, in some ways, the information camera may not focus as well on today’s industry snapshots. Useful and reliable industry information always has been hard to

Piecing Together the Distribution Puzzle
June 1, 2007

If distribution means getting books into the hands of sellers, circulators or readers, then a true profile of the distribution business would cast a wide net, beginning at the binding line and continuing through to the ‘long tail’ of online portals, used bookstores and curbside pushcarts. However, if distribution, from the publisher’s view, means getting books to generate sales revenue, we can overlook all of the aftermarket, recirculation and reselling channels and focus solely on reaching stores, libraries, online and catalog warehouses and—increasingly, thanks to the Internet—direct marketing from the publisher to the consumer. In the article “Deconstructing Distribution,” in Book Business’

A New Home For Independent Publishers
April 1, 2007

Many independent U.S. book publishers breathed a sigh of relief after a Delaware bankruptcy court ruled in favor of the Perseus Books Group taking control of the distribution contracts for more than 120 clients of the now-defunct Publishers Group West (PGW). The New York-based Perseus Books offered to pay 70 cents for every dollar of pre-bankruptcy claims owed to publishers who were distributed under PGW, a Berkeley, Calif.-based division of Advanced Marketing Services (AMS). The bid to help bail out AMS from a pile of debt claims was approved by Judge Christopher Sontchi Feb. 19. Perseus President David Steinberger says the company began