Simon and Schuster Inc.
June 6, 2014
The very public fight between Amazon and Hachette illustrates why it's never a good idea to become too reliant on one distribution channel. A bevy of startups are vying to establish a real alternative in the form of a subscription ebook service, with two of them, Oyster and Scribd, enjoying the most funding and press attention.
But in some important ways, it's the lesser known Entitle Books that leading the race. A tiny operation based in Wilmington, N.C., Entitle was the first to give its customers access to the full catalogs of two of the five biggest publishers,
May 23, 2014
In the latest mash-up of old and new media, a division of Simon & Schuster, the Atria Publishing Group, has teamed with Hollywood's United Talent Agency to create a new imprint to publish books by Internet entertainers. Five deals have already been made with YouTube stars like Shane Dawson and Justine Ezarik.
Keywords Press, as the new endeavor is called, aims to release six to 10 titles annually, both in print and digital formats, ranging from "serious to comedic, fiction to nonfiction, practical advice to personal memoir," said Judith Curr
May 22, 2014
Very few publishing brands, in fact, mean much to consumers because publishers traditionally promote their authors, not themselves, as brands. But that approach and perspective needs to change. When a publisher's brand is indistinct, it diminishes the value that publisher brings to the books it publishes.
May 22, 2014
Epic!, a subscription app for children's books, just closed a deal with HarperCollins that will give its subscribers access to over 1000 books, including classics like The Chronicles of Narnia, Frog and Toad, and The Secret Garden. This comes on the heels of last night's announcement that Oyster has signed a similar - but much larger - deal with Simon & Schuster.
Epic! has only been available for two months, and has already landed deals with two of the five top publishers, the other being Simon & Schuster.
May 8, 2014
New York, N.Y. - April 8, 2014 - TED Conferences LLC and Simon & Schuster announced today that they will co-publish a boutique, 12-book collection of TED Books, with a new title released every one-to-two months, starting in September 2014.
March 25, 2014
Customers who bought agency-priced ebooks between 2010 and 2012 are receiving credits for those books as a result of the publishers' settlements with the states. Kindle customers appear to be the first to get those credits.
Book publishers, as part of a price-fixing settlement with state governments, agreed to pay small credits to consumers who bought eligible ebooks between 2010 and 2013. Those credits started showing up in Kindle customers’ accounts Tuesday. Barnes & Noble also says credits will start showing up for Nook customers today.
March 24, 2014
Visitors to the New York Public Library's website will have a new way to decide what to read next: The library is partnering with New York-based startup Zola Books to offer algorithm-based recommendations to readers. The technology comes from Bookish, the book discovery site that Zola acquired earlier this year.
March 4, 2014
Much of the publishing industry is not in a data-first mindset asserts Tom Davenport in a recent article dubbed "Book Publishing's Big Data Future". Although Davenport criticizes the publishing industry as a big data underachiever, he admits that's in part because publishers have traditionally worked through intermediaries to reach consumers. But that dynamic is changing.
February 13, 2014
Operating income at Simon & Schuster rose 32% in 2013, to $106 million on a sales increase of 2.4%, to $809 million, parent company CBS reported. The publisher closed 2013 with a solid fourth quarter with sales up 4.6% over the fourth quarter of 2012 and income up 30%. Sales in the quarter were $225 million and operating income $35 million. Fourth quarter sales were driven by an increase in sales of print books, something CEO Carolyn Reidy attributed in part to the mix of titles, especially the strong physical sales of the three
January 16, 2014
Yesterday I posted a blog discussing one point addressed during the CEO Roundtable at the Digital Book World Conference-namely, book discoverability. The larger discussion of that panel focused on the future of the ebook, for which the CEOs (Tim O'Reilly of O'Reilly Media, Dominique Raccah of Sourcebooks, Carolyn Reidy of Simon & Schuster, and David Nussbaum of F+W Media) seemed to have more questions than answers.
