Penguin Books

Profits at the book publisher Penguin slumped by almost 50% in the first six months, thanks in part to the runaway global success of EL James's Fifty Shades of Grey, which is published by a rival, Vintage Books.

The runaway success of Fifty Shades and The Hunger Games helped cut sales at Penguin by 4% to £441m and its adjusted operating profit down 48% to £22m.

In a bid to take a leading position in the growing self-publishing market, Penguin has acquired self-publishing platform Author Solutions from Bertram Capital, a San Mateo, Calif.-based venture-capital and private-equity firm, for $116 million.

The acquisition comes less than a year after Penguin launched its own self-publishing platform, Book Country, and at a time when self-publishing firms are jockeying for favor with authors by offering new features and lower prices. A company statement about the acquisition did not mention Book Country.

Penguin Books India is releasing its first set of eBooks. This will be the first extensive list of Indian ebooks to be published internationally by an Indian publisher and will be available from all the major international ebook retailers – Amazon, Apple, Kobo and Google, Gardners, Sony, OLF, Apabi, Go Spoken/Mobcast, OverDrive, Txtr, Ebooks.com, IGroup and Baker & Taylor. The first list of over 240 titles consists of all of their new books published in 2012 and select best sellers from the backlist. Over the course of the following months they will continue to publish the remaining backlist while

CafePress Inc. (PRSS), The World's Customization Engine, has partnered with publisher Penguin Group (USA) to launch a new online store featuring a curated selection of products showcasing more than 80 years of stories that have sparked young readers' imaginations. Whether it's Corduroy's unplanned adventures, Froggy's continual mishaps or Ladybug Girl's endless imagination, children love todevour anything and everything about their favorite fictional characters.

NEW YORK, June 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group has named the best indie books of 2012. The books are winners of the 2012 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, a non-profit awards program judged by leaders in the indie book publishing industry to identify indie books that deserve to reach a wider audience.

Dorling Kindersley, the division of Penguin that publishes children, travel and reference titles, made a strong case for how it is moving to a “flat” content model, where a printed book is only one of many output options. The digital publisher of DK also said that companies like his need to do this to be ready for the next big thing in books—whatever it is—but as is so often the case for old media industries, the change is “massive” and not easy for everyone in publishing.

Penguin Group (USA) announced today the release of its Holiday eSampler featuring excerpts from over 40 frontlist, backlist, and upcoming titles. Available for free wherever eBooks are sold, this collection provides readers with the opportunity to browse sample chapters of a variety of adult and young adult books across genres: from bestselling thrillers and critically-acclaimed

LONDON—Penguin's Chief Executive John Makinson said on Tuesday the publisher's Christmas list was strong -- with authors including comedian Lee Evans, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" writer Jeff Kinney, and Tom Clancy -- although not as strong as last year's. Sales in the first nine months of the year were flat.

To better connect publishers with their audience (and give them a shot at acquiring new readers), Link.me has been forging partnerships with the top book publishers to launch trials, deals, promotions, and more through QR codes. In October, Link.me signed with its newest client, McGraw-Hill, and as an example of the kind of work they’re doing, one of the publishing company’s recent publications, “The Zappos Experience” embedded QR codes in over 15 individual chapters. The goal was, of course, to bring The Zappos Experience “to life."

Like many of you, we’re wondering about what caused today’s OverDrive/Penguin news:

"OverDrive Suspends Access to New Penguin eBook Titles, 'Get For Kindle' Access Also Shut Down"

Only time will tell  why Penguin decided to change their policy with OverDrive (and libraries) but we’re wondering if a February letter by OverDrive CEO Steve Potash might provide clues...