Workman

Online retail, digital books, social media, and mobile devices have forever altered how readers discover and purchase books. While these changes have shook up every aspect of the book industry, this disruption also presents new opportunities for publishers willing to adapt their businesses. And by necessity, many leading book publishers are quickly learning new skills…

Yoav Lorch explains how Total Boox’s pay-as-you-read model is intended to meet the digital age expectations of ease and immediacy.

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.

With Netflix soaring, investors are betting that a start-up based on the same business model - but for e-books - will succeed as well.

Oyster, which gives customers access to more than 100,000 books for $10 a month, has raised $14 million in a new round of financing. The new investment was led by Highland Capital Partners and included additional capital from an existing investor, Peter Thiel's Founders Fund.

That raises the company's total fund-raising to $17 million.

By now, we've all gotten pretty used to not owning stuff-at least in the traditional, hold-it-in-your-hands sense. If you're anything like me, your DVD collection stopped growing a few years back once Netflix and Hulu bolstered their offerings. And that CD storage stand (hell, even your iTunes account) has probably gathered dust thanks to Spotify and Rdio. But books? Turns out, we're still content to pay $10 for a paperless novel that we're not even certain we'll like or finish.

WILMINGTON, N.C., Sept. 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- eReatah (www.eReatah.com), a groundbreaking e-book subscription service that offers 80,000+ titles spanning every genre, launched its private beta today.  Available for all iPads, iPhones (iOS) and Android devices, the Web- and app-based service allows users to choose from three different plans and acquire e-books for 20 - 40+% less than their average retail price.

After a 20-year stint in newspaper and magazine journalism, Susan Bolotin became the editor-in-chief of Workman Publishing in 2000; she is now also the acting publisher. She began her career at Random House, and then moved to Simon & Schuster, where she was the editor-in-chief of Touchstone Books. While there, she published The Road Less Traveled, which holds the distinction of being on The New York Times best seller list longer than any other book. She eagerly awaits the day — not many months away — when Workman's What to Expect When You're Expecting takes over that special spot in bookselling history.

Fans of reading and a certain galaxy far, far away have reason to rejoice: Star Wars Reads Day, a day-long celebration of literacy and Jedi, Sith, Wookiees, and all things Star Wars, is returning. The second annual Star Wars Reads Day is to be held this October 5, 2013. Last year, 30 authors and 1,500 costumed volunteers participated in over 1,200 Star Wars Reads Day events across North America. On October 5 of this year, Star Wars fans, authors, and artists will again come together in this multi-publisher initiative …

Oh, my feet, my poor, poor feet… (Extra points to anyone who knows that’s a lyric from the 1956 musical “The Most Happy Fella”!). Which is to say, another busy day travelling around the gigantic Javits Center! One of the highlights on Thursday was the Fourth Annual BookExpo American Librarians Lunch. A room packed with, I’d estimate, about 400 to 500 people was treated to the appearance of five authors with forthcoming books, some known names, some debut authors. Lee Smith, Koethi Zan, Jayne Anne Phillips, Bill Bryson and Louise Penny spoke about what inspired their new works, did short readings, and took questions from the passionate (mostly female) community of librarians.

Book publishing veteran Robert Miller is launching a new standalone non-fiction imprint at Macmillan.

Mr. Miller, 56 years old, was ousted in March from his senior management post at Workman Publishing Co. In his new role, he is returning to Manhattan’s Flatiron Building where he started his career as an editorial assistant at St. Martin’s Press in 1978.