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Welcome
to the Vol. 9, No. 4 April 2011Index (scroll down for stories)1. Kindle gives e-writer Hocking multi-million dollar platform for success 2. Joe McGinniss leaks competitor’s book about Sarah Palin
3. Charlie Sheen wants $10 million for tell-all book; his publicist quits 5. Amazon closing Texas distribution center in sales tax tiff 6. HarperCollins says libraries may only lend an e-book 26 times 7. Bookselling: Controversy swirls over Amazon’s Tennessee facility 8. What profit margin should you expect to get for an e-book sale? 9. Random House joins Apple e-book store after dispute over pricing 10. Spring Book Show morphs, becomes GABBS Atlanta 11. Bristol Palin memoir due out from William Morrow this summer 12. Zondervan’s Girkins leaving; Scott Macdonald to serve in interim 13. How bad is it? Borders bankruptcy leaves publishers adrift 14. Barnes & Noble disappoints street: profits fall, dividend suspended 15. The publishing revolution: Author builds Twitter following of 50,000 16. P-book sales drop 15 percent in early 2011 as e-books gain 17. Hay House taps MotherVook to produce enhanced e-Books 18. Library collective offers 80,000 more e-books for lending 19. Comics news: Diamond to sell digital comics through comic shops 20. Self-publishing and vanity presses: B&N launches PubIt Digital 21. Marketing books: Penguin to distribute ARCs through NetGalley 22. Author sues former agent who she alleges stole her cookbook idea 23. U.S. Justice Department scrutinizing Apple subscription rules 24. Top authors present at GABBS Spring Book Show March 25-26 25. National Christian Writers Conference held in San Diego March 26 26. Major upcoming trade shows, book fairs and book festivals
1. Kindle gives e-writer Hocking multi-million-dollar platform for success
It’s becoming increasingly obvious that wannabe authors can find success by self-publishing their works as e-books.
There is perhaps no better current example of that than 26-year-old Amanda
Hocking, a resident of Austin, Minn., in the Minneapolis suburbs, a writer of
paranormal romances and thrillers.
In 2009, Hocking wrote five 300-page novels targeted at the young adult market. In early 2010, she wrote three more - one every two to four weeks.
Working from a $250 a month home that was all she could afford to rent, she fueled her writing with Red Bull, Sweet Tarts and cold cans of ravioli and SpaghettiOs. She wrote for 12 hours a day, every day, using the rest of her waking time to chase agents and publishers. She failed to find anyone interested in her work.
By April 2010, Hocking had completed eight novels but still had no agent or publisher. She had accumulated "Hundreds. Maybe thousands," of rejections by that time, she said. "All my other friends had either gone to school or they had decent jobs or they were getting married or they were doing something. And I was still just sending off query letters.
Up to this point, she had only published stories on her blog. Now she decided to publish the novels via Amazon’s Kindle store, adding one more title along the line for a total of nine e-books.
"I sold 50 books the first month,” she says. It picked up over the summer, then really took off in November (2010)."
In February 2011, sales for Hocking, as evidenced by online proprietary accounts shown to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, were:
· Amazon (via its e-book portal, the Kindle): 227,515 units for all nine of her works, including about 60,000 for her best-selling novel, "Switched." · Barnes & Noble (the Nook): 55,135 units. · CreateSpace, an online "print on demand" service: 2,948 units.
That’s a total of 285,598 sales for the three platforms in February 2011 alone.
Hocking says that total is about 100,000 copies shy of the real sales. That’s
because the figures don’t include sales via Apple’s iBook, Kobo (Borders) and
Sony’s eReader - or sales of three other e-books she is selling in a different
format through Barnes & Noble.
Hocking is almost certainly now the world's best-selling e-book author.
She says that failing to get published by the conventional route worked to her advantage. "It allowed me to put a lot of books on the market quickly, so if people liked them, they could immediately buy another."
Her best-selling Switched, the first novel in a trilogy, has already sold nearly a million copies.
"I didn't expect it to be anything like this. I was hoping for around 10 percent of where I am now," she said.
Much of her success is based on volume sales. She sells her work for only $0.99 to $2.99 a pop. That means lower revenue, but she has literally no overhead. She just has to forfeit Amazon’s 30 percent cut and keeps the remaining 70 percent on $2.99 sales for herself.
Earnings for the 26-year-old so far: Somewhere between $1.4 million and just shy of $2 million, she says, most of it in the last four months. In mid-March, the book she believes to be her best, Switched, was the fifth-best-selling book on Kindle, behind mainstream authors John Locke, Lisa Gardner and Laura Hillenbrand. She had seven titles on the USA Today 150 best-sellers list, including Switched, at No. 28 after peaking at No. 16.
And the money doesn’t stop there. In late March, major publishing houses bid for the rights to four more novels by Hocking. Random House, Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins all dropped out as the price rose beyond $2 million for the English rights.
St. Martin's Press eventually won out and is set to publish her four-book “Watersong” series, with the first book to be released in the fall of 2012. The publishing company, part of Macmillan, has not disclosed how much it paid for the rights.
Further, Media Rights Capital, a prominent film financier and production
company, has snapped up the rights to the Trylle Trilogy series by Hocking. The
company plans to make three novels into two movies, and Terri Tatchell, a
co-writer of the hit science-fiction film “District 9,” is already at work on
the screenplays.
The three novels - Switched, Torn and Ascend - follow an
emotionally damaged high school girl, Wendy Everly, who realizes that she may
not be human. With the help of a boy, Finn Holmes, she discovers the mysterious
world of Trylle, which is populated by beautiful trolls.
Media Rights Capital did not disclose terms. The next step is to line up a
distributor, which should not be difficult given the company’s close ties to
studios like Warner Brothers and Universal Pictures. Is Hocking now an outspoken advocate for self-publishing e-books? Heck no. She strongly defends the traditional publishing model. While her success was remarkable, it was exhausting.
Hocking posted a defense of her pursuit of traditional publishers on her blog.
"I want to be a writer. I do not want to spend 40 hours a week handling e-mails, formatting covers, finding editors, etc. Right now, being me is a full-time corporation," she writes on the blog.
She also cites book availability, increased quality of editing and career stability as factors in her decision.
Nonetheless, the prolific writer who has written 19 books so far promises her fans she hasn't abandoned self-publishing. "I have a few titles lined up this year yet to put out via the self-publishing. And I'll have more in the future."
2. Joe McGinniss leaks competitor’s book about Sarah Palin
Joe McGinnis, who rented a house owned by Sarah and Todd Palin in Wasilla, Alaska, while writing a book about her, has pulled yet another stunt to publicize his forthcoming biography of the failed vice presidential candidate.
In his latest stunt, McGinniss leaked a rival manuscript on Palin, written by Frank Bailey, a former longtime aide to the possible presidential candidate, to the Anchorage Daily News.
Bailey had tried to sell a book proposal in 2009, a year after Palin’s failed vice presidential bid, but failed to find a publisher. Bailey subsequently teamed up with two ghostwriters on a new attempt with the working title Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: A Memoir of Our Tumultuous Years.
Bailey was also a key player in the Troopergate scandal that came to national attention after Palin became Sen. John McCain's GOP running mate in 2008. It involved an investigation into why Palin dismissed her public safety commissioner after he refused to fire state trooper Mike Wooten - with whom Palin's sister was involved in a child custody battle when the couple divorced in 2006. In the manuscript, Bailey writes that Todd Palin recruited him to go after Wooten, saying, "It's time to get s--t, done, and it's us, Frank. You and me."
The ghostwriters have accused him of copyright infringement by distributing it without authorization. As a result, they allege, potential interest in their work has been diminished. They claim McGinniss is a jealous author intent on sabotaging his competition.
Last September, he moved out, and tweeted: "Palin's next neighbors: sadly, I leave Lake Lucille but am told a Muslim group will move in next week to establish a community center."
3. Charlie Sheen wants $10 million for tell-all book; his publicist quits
Troubled “Two and a Half Men” TV star Charlie Sheen has revealed he is shopping a book deal - and wants publishers' bids to start bidding at $10 million.
Sheen was reportedly furious after producers and the creator of the show, Chuck Lorre, cancelled the sitcom for the rest of the season following Sheen’s recent behavior.
Sheen said the book will include all the details about what led up to the final implosion between him and Lorre.
Sheen even has a title in mind - When the Laughter Stopped - and says even though he's still working on the book he expects a bidding war for the publishing rights.
Just minutes after an embarrassing live interview with TMZ wrapped, Sheen’s publicist called it quits. Stan Rosenfield told TMZ, "I worked with Charlie Sheen for a long time and I care about him very much; however, at this time, I'm unable to work effectively as his publicist and have respectfully resigned."
Rosenfield, who also represents George Clooney and Robert De Niro, shot down reports that Sheen was either retiring or entering rehab shortly before the TMZ interview ended.
4. Breaking news: Charlaine Harris almost done with Sookie
Stackhouse
Bes Tyler wrote the book in collaboration with David Dalton, who has also written books about James Dean, Andy Warhol and Janis Joplin.
5. Amazon closing Texas distribution center in sales tax tiff
Amazon is closing its Irving, Texas, distribution facility on April 12, and canceling plans to hire as many as 1,000 additional workers because of its dispute with Texas over sales tax owed," the Dallas Morning News reported.
Last fall, the state assessed Amazon $269 million in uncollected sales tax, interest and penalties for the four years from December 2005 to December 2009. Amazon has contested the assessment.
6. HarperCollins says libraries may only lend an e-book 26 times
Library Journal reported that HarperCollins has issued new terms to Overdrive for how many times a library e-book can be loaned out.
Under the new terms, a library-purchased e-book may only be loaned 26 times before it must be re-purchased.
Any library e-book provider dealing with HarperCollins, not just Overdrive, will be required to abide by those terms.
"HarperCollins is committed to the library channel,” the publisher said in a statement. “We believe this change balances the value libraries get from our titles with the need to protect our authors and ensure a presence in public libraries and the communities they serve for years to come."
7. Bookselling: Controversy swirls over Amazon’s Tennessee facility
Amazon's proposed $139.1 million distribution facilities in Southeast Tennessee have come under fire from critics who contend that "the tax giveaways to Amazon could be nearly as much as the company will pay the 1,476 workers it plans to hire this year in Hamilton and Bradley counties," according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press. Tennesseans for Fair Taxation, an independent bookstore interest group, estimates "state and local governments could lose more than $30 million a year in sales tax revenues and millions more in property and franchise taxes because of tax exemptions granted to Amazon." "The economic output from Amazon just won't measure up to what is being given away," said Elizabeth Wright, executive director of the group. "Amazon can afford to collect these taxes, but Tennessee can't afford not to have them do so." Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield argues that Amazon will boost the local economy "and all of those Amazon employees will pay taxes on the cars, homes and goods they buy."
8. What profit margin should you expect to get for an e-book sale?
The multi-million dollar success of author Amanda Hocking of Austin, Minn., has the mouths of many other authors watering in the hopes they can match her success. So what kind of profits might an author expect from e-book sales?
Hocking opted to sell the first nine titles she self-published through CreateSpace as e-books only. Her first nine titles began going up on the Kindle platform in April 2010 at prices of from $0.99 to $2.99. Her profit margin is 70 percent per sale. That means that for a $2.99 e-book sale, Hocking gets $2.09 and Amazon gets $0.90. Hocking sold 900,000 copies in the first 10 months her books were sold. We don’t know how many books sold at $0.99 vs. $2.99, so we have to compute her range of profit as somewhere between $62,370 to $1,883,700. She of course has sold a lot of books since then. It’s estimated that she will clear around $2 million on her e-book sales alone this year. That doesn’t count the conventional book deal she recently signed for four more titles - she’s rumored to be getting an advance iof another $2 million for those.
Hocking was initially self-published. The royalties paid authors by traditional publishers vary considerably, although there’s a market model in place that most of the major houses are trying to enforce.
Romance publisher Avon Impulse, for example, is currently offering authors 25 percent of profits on the first 10,000 e-books sold, and 50 percent after that.
9. Random House joins Apple e-book store after dispute over pricing
Book publisher Random House has announced that it will go along with Apple Inc.’s pricing model to sell its books through Apple’s e-book store.
The move adds more than 17,000 Random House titles to the iBookstore, which sells e-books that can be read on several Apple devices, including the iPad tablet.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the new availability of Random House’s titles during a news conference that also introduced a new version of the iPad. Jobs said that, with the addition of Random House, the iBookstore now features titles from more than 2,500 publishers.
Apple’s pricing structure requires publishers to set the prices for their
e-books and then Apple takes 30 percent of each sale. Random House had preferred
a pricing structure that was more like the wholesale pricing used for the sale
of printed books. Publishers typically sell printed volumes to retailers at a
40-50% discount off the book’s list price, and each retailer decides what to
charge its customers. Random House was the last of the major U.S. publishing houses to agree to Apple’s pricing model for digital books. The agreement comes as the Apple iPad is gaining ground as an e-reader against Amazon’s market-leading Kindle device, according to ChangeWave Research.
Apple’s iPad doubled its e-book market share between August and November of last year, and controls 32 percent of the market, the research firm says. Amazon’s Kindle device slipped from 62 to 47 percent during the same period.
10. Spring Book Show morphs, become GABBS Atlanta
LB May & Associates on March 15 announced the creation of the “GABBS Network,” a year-round set of products and services under the “Great American Bargain Books” branding.
The GABBS Network, a first of its kind network structure in the United States, provides end-to-end solutions for publishers, wholesalers and retail outlets in the book marketplace globally.
“Our two national face-to-face event programs have been growing well in recent years, and with our expanded online news services the time was right to bring all of the opportunities together under a common brand: GABBS,” Larry B. May, president and founder of the GABBS Network, said
“The GABBS Network now offers single sourcing of offline and online marketplaces, keeping GABBS and our customers extremely competitive in this changing publishing and retail world,” May said. “With the turmoil in the mainstream book retail market, bargain books and related products including puzzles, stationery and games continues to do well and with the Network we are now able to help maximize customer promotions.”
The first 2011 program in the GABBS Network line-up is the Atlanta-based Spring Book Show, a sold-out program for over 70 exhibitors that was held March 25-27 at Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta.
Along with the Spring Book Show, now known as “GABBS Atlanta,” comes the debut of the GABBS Bargain Book News Magazine, a buyer’s guide for the wholesale and retail book trade.
The GABBS Network includes:
Jeff Press, founder and CEO of World Publications Group and JG Press in East Bridgewater, Mass., and a major client of the GABBS Network, added “Larry and his team provide an excellent and valuable set of marketplace opportunities. Tying them together under the GABBS Network structure enhances their positioning and will help both the industry and the individual companies grow and gain valuable exposure at the wholesale and retail level.”
11. Bristol Palin memoir due out from William Morrow this summer
Bristol Pa
The book is described by the publisher as going “beyond the headlines, offering readers an inside look at her life, her world, and the things that matter most, including her family and the faith that keeps her centered.”
According to the publisher, the 20-year-old daughter of Sarah Palin writes about her childhood in Alaska, “coming of age amid the media and political frenzy surrounding her mother’s political rise,” faith, life as a single mom and her public relationship with her former fiancé and the father of her child, Levi Johnston. She also recounts the “highs and lows” of competing on last season’s “Dancing With the Stars” and the criticism she faced as a contestant. (Source: Karin Tanabe, Politico)
12. Zondervan’s Girkins leaving; Scott Macdonald to serve in interim
Zondervan announced on Feb. 17 that its president and CEO, Maureen “Moe” Girkins, would leave her position effective March 11.
Scott Macdonald, acting general manager of Zondervan’s business unit The City, will take on the role of Interim president during the transition period. Macdonald will work closely with Zondervan’s leadership team. A search for a new CEO s under way.
Macdonald has more than 30 years of experience in sales and Christian retailing, including serving as the president of Insight Retail Group, a franchisor of Christian stores with 35 sites. He has developed growth strategies and increased profitability at multiple companies.
Most recently, Macdonald has served as acting general manager for The City, a Zondervan-owned integrated software platform for church communities.
According to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks about 70 percent of all retail sales of books (including those of Amazon.com), only 282 million books were sold in 2009 in the U.S. in all adult nonfiction categories combined. The average U.S. nonfiction book is now selling less than 250 copies per year and less than 3,000 copies over its lifetime … According to the American Association of Publishers, total book sales in 2010 rose 3.6 percent, to $11.67 billion, as reported by 87 publishers . E-books had the biggest jump in sales, and now account for 8.3 percent of the trade book market… While total book sales in 2010 were up, mainly due to rising e-book sales, the overall trend in p-book sales is downward. Book sales in the U.S. peaked in 2007 and then fell by nearly five percent between 2007 and 2009, according to the Association of American Publishers. Similarly, bookstore sales peaked in 2007 and have fallen since, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The major bookstore chains have been especially hard hit, with a 12 percent sales decline between 2007 and 2009 ... December bookstore sales rose 2.4 percent, to $2.09 billion, compared to December 2009, according to preliminary estimates from the Census Bureau. But for the full year, total bookstore sales slipped 1.4 percent, to $16.5 billion. Sales during the year compared to the previous year rose in the first four months, sagged during the late spring and summer, then rose again in the last two months of the year, but not enough to reverse an overall decline from 2009 … Borders Group Inc.'s bankruptcy filing left a long list of publishers with a big hole in their pockets and the prospect of fewer stores to promote their books. "If publishers are lucky, they'll get back 25 cents on the dollar," said Jed Lyons, chief executive of Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group Inc., which publishes its own titles and distributes books for other publishers through its National Book Network. Borders owes National Book Network $2 million. Borders has been putting the finishing touches on a store-closure program that could eliminate more than one-third of its 674 stores as part of a Chapter 11 restructuring.
14. Barnes & Noble disappoints street: profits fall, dividend suspended
Following its best holiday period in years, Barnes & Noble reported less than stellar third quarter results. Sales rose seven percent and profits were within the company's own guidance, but both measures were below analysts' expectations. The company announced that it was suspending its quarterly dividend of 25 cents per share.
The combination of lower earnings and no quarterly payout sparked a sell-off in shares.
BN said that it now sells twice as many ebooks as physical books at BN.com. Sales at BN.com were up 53 percent or $110 million, at $319.4 million for the period - but those sales yielded the lowest return of any of their business segments, with gross margin of only 9.5 percent and negative EBIDTA of $50.5 million.
In an investor call, CEO William Lynch said they believe they "grew our share of the ebook market " to "approximately 25 percent of the overall U.S. market for e-books."
Overall sales for the quarter totaled $2.325 billion, up seven percent from $2.174 billion a year ago, with superstore comp sales up 7.3 percent, thanks to Nook sales and their expanded toys and games offerings. Total superstore sales were $1.465 billion in the quarter.
The college stores, which were supposed to even out the company's performance, fell 2.2 percent on a same-store basis.
EBITDA for the quarter was $170.1 million, and net income was $60.6 million - within the company's predicted range, but more than 10 percent below what analysts were expecting. And all profit measures - in all three of the company's business segments - declined measurably from a year ago.
15. The publishing revolution: Author builds Twitter following of 50,000
According to a recent article in Ed Nawotka’s “Publishing Perspectives” blog, it took a car accident for author Bethanne Patrick to build up a Twitter following of 50,000. “I got onto Twitter in early 2009,” says Patrick, a blogger and writer perhaps best known now as @thebookmaven on Twitter (and contributor to “Publishing Perspectives”), “after I was in a car accident and had a broken leg. I had to stay put and sit still for so long. The orthopedic surgeon said I had serious ligament damage and so I couldn’t go out for lunch, or coffee for months …” That audience gives Patrick a platform at publisher Workman, which recently threw a Twitter party for “@WkmnShorts.” “Meet up from 11-1 to celebrate this new imprint! We’ll be serving Twitterinis!” promised one invitation. The event was hosted by Patrick, a brilliant move by Workman since Patrick could advertise the event among her devoted list of over 50,000 book-loving followers who participate in her popular weekly Twitter event #FridayReads.
16. P-book sales drop 15 percent in early 2011 as e-books gain
Michael Cader of Publishers Lunch recently reported that BookScan numbers showed a drop in unit sales of printed books of 4.4 percent from 2009 to 2010.
Cader then did a further analysis of more recent BookScan data showing that print book sales over the first six weeks of 2011have dropped by over 15 percent compared to the prior year. The share of print books sold online keeps rising as well, so that almost certainly means that print sales in brick and mortar stores have fallen proportionately.
Dominique Raccah, the head of independent publisher Sourcebooks, the largest female-owned publisher in the U.S., reported on her blog that dollar sales at her company in January were 35 percent digital.
Raccah says, “We may well be at the tipping point. I suspect that we’re going to see some dramatic reassessment when publishers look at their numbers at the end of the first quarter 2011.”
17. Hay House taps MotherVook to produce enhanced e-Books
Digital publisher Vook has announced a business partnership with publisher Hay House that will allow California-based Hay to produce enhanced e-books across multiple platforms.
MotherVook is the technology engine that has enabled Vook to create more than 150 of its own titles.
Vook is now extending the technology to other publishers, allowing them to scale enhanced e-book creation.
MotherVook converts disparate and varied file formats; combines text, video and images; manages the content; and distributes it to multiple platforms, including the iPhone, iPad, iBookstore, Amazon Kindle and Android marketplaces.
Hay House is a global publisher of inspirational self-help titles, working with authors such as Dr. Wayne W. Dyer and Jorge Cruise, author of the #1 New York Times best-seller the “Belly Fat Cure.”
Hay House is the first outside publisher to utilize the new Vook technology platform.
18. Library collective offers 80,000 more eBooks for lending
A group of libraries led by the Internet Archive in February announced a new, cooperative 80,000-plus e-book lending collection of mostly 20th century books on OpenLibrary.org, a site where it’s already possible to read over one million e-books without restriction.
During a library visit, patrons with an OpenLibrary.org account can borrow any of these lendable e-books using laptops, reading devices or library computers.
This new twist on the traditional lending model could increase e-book use and revenue for publishers.
Any OpenLibrary.org account holder can borrow up to five e-books at a time, for up to two weeks. Books can only be borrowed by one person at a time. People can choose to borrow either an in-browser version (viewed using the Internet Archive’s BookReader web application), or a PDF or ePub version, managed by the free Adobe Digital Editions software. (Source: Paul Biba, TeleRead)
19. Comics news: Diamond to sell digital comics through comic shops
Diamond Comic Distributors is teaming up with iVerse Media, creator of the ComicsPLUS reader, to allow some 2,700 bricks-and-mortar comic shops to sell digital editions of comics.
Under the program, which will make its debut in July, day-and-date digital editions will sell for 30 days for about $1.99. “Digital plus" editions, in which digital comics are bundled with the purchase of a printed copy, will sell for 99 cents.
20. Self-publishing and vanity presses: B&N launches PubIt Digital
B&N says that since it launched its PubIt! digital publishing platform for
independent publishers and self-published authors four months ago, more than
11,000 independent publishers and authors have joined, adding approximately
65,000 new works to the Nook Bookstore. At the end of the first
four months, 35 PubIt! titles were among their top 200 e-books.
21. Marketing books: Penguin to distribute ARCs through NetGalley
Penguin Group (USA) plans to distribute review copies through NetGalley - a digital option for book reviewers. Reviewers, media contacts and other professional readers will be able to access digital galleys (some in full color) and promotional materials. NetGalley works on both computers and eReading devices including Nook, Kobo, Sony eReader, and iPad. According to the Penguin news release, 85 publishers currently use NetGalley and its services. Some of those publishers include Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Hachette Book Group and HarperCollins Publishers.
22. Author sues former agent who she alleges stole her cookbook idea
A Brooklyn cookbook author alleges that her former literary agent stole her idea
for an all-bacon cookbook, then published the book herself.
Lisa Skye claims she signed an agreement with Jayne Rockmill to develop a book of recipes called I Love Bacon and received a publishing offer before their relationship soured two years ago and the project was tabled.
Andrews McMeel Publishing then printed a book with the same title, concept and format in October 2010 - with Rockmill as the author, Skye claims in a lawsuit filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court.
"It's so blatant," Skye, 33, told the New York Daily News. "It's not like she went with Bacon Rocks. She put the same name."
The suit seeks monetary damages against Rockmill and the publishing house, and asks for an injunction to get the book off the shelves.
Rockmill counters that she wrote her cookbook without any help from Skye. In 2007, Skye self-published a book called I Love Corn, featuring a collection of corn recipes - some from celebrity chefs like Daniel Boulud.
She met Rockmill at a launch event for the book and was later offered a contract to adapt the concept into a series, starting with bacon.
While negotiating terms with Andrews McMeel, Skye decided to break it off with the agent.
Skye's lawyer, Elise Schwartz, said the contract didn't stipulate compensation for Rockmill if the project fell apart, and that the agent had a duty to maintain confidentiality. (Source: Oren Yaniv, New York Daily News, Feb. 23, 2011)
23. U.S. Justice Department scrutinizing Apple subscription rules
According to the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Justice Department, through its antitrust division, is looking into Apple’s terms for media companies who want to sell subscriptions on Apple devices.
The investigation is in a preliminary stage and it might, or might not, end in the Department taking action.
Banning apps from linking to external sites “sounds like a pretty aggressive position,” said Eric Goldman, director of Santa Clara University’s High Tech Law Institute. “It seems like that’s purely in the interests of Apple trying to restrict people doing transactions they don’t get a cut from.”
Apple’s condition that its own customers should get the best deal available from media companies could also attract scrutiny. Such conditions, sometimes known as “most favored nation” clauses, can be deemed anticompetitive if they distort pricing.
The Justice Department recently sued a Michigan health-insurance company for allegedly using such clauses to hobble rivals.
However, things are not that simple in the antitrust world. The Department would have to show that Apple is abusing its market power. This, in turn, depends on how you define the market. A major part of any litigation will center around this concept. For example, the Journal reports that the iPhone is “the phone of choice for many affluent consumers, but it has only a 16 percent share of smartphone sales and a sliver of the broader mobile phone market.” (Source: TeleRead)
24. Top authors present at GABBS Spring Book Show March 25-26
Authorship 101 - 201 workshops held in conjunctions with the GABBS Atlanta Spring Book Show fielded 16 top author and publisher presentations.
The workshops are organized by the Southern Review of Books, this year in cooperation with the Atlanta Chapter of the American Society of Journalists and Authors.
The 16 outstanding authors and book professionals taught two day-long seminars on writing on March 25-26,at Atlanta’s Cobb Galleria Centre.
Authorship 101, “How To Become a Successful Author – The Basics,” was held on March 25. Featured presenters included:
· Echo Garrett, award-winning journalist and best-selling author, "Finding Your Voice: Writing Inspirational Biography." · Ahmad Meradji, CEO, Booklogix Publishing Services and Apex Book Manufacturing, "Is Self-Publishing for You? What You Need to Know to Publish Your Book.” · Blane Bachelor, journalist, nationally syndicated columnist, author, "10 Pitfalls to Avoid on Your Way to Being Published." · Jennie Helderman, author of three books, "Tips on writing nonfiction for publication." · Rob Jenkins, national columnist and English professor at Georgia Perimeter College, "Write What You Know for Pleasure and Dough." · Peter Bowerman, author of the four award-winning “Well-Fed” titles on making a living as a writer, author and publisher, “The Well-Fed Self-Publisher: How to Turn One Book into a Full-Time Living." · Angela Durden, children’s books author, editor, publisher, businesswoman. Participants in her session discussed their unpublished works for critique.
Authorship 201, “How To Become a Successful Author - Getting Down to Business," was held March 26. Featured presenters include:
· Man Martin, award-winning author and comic strip artist, "Self-Promotion 101." · Mickey Goodman, freelance writer and author, "Ghost Busters: Meeting the Challenges of Ghost-writing and Co-authoring" · Lynda Fitzgerald, multi-genre author, "Developing Characterization and Writing Dialogue in the Novel Genre." · Noel Griese, Anvil Publishers, "Crash Publishing - Is It Your Gateway to Big Bucks?" · Eric and Robin Gagnon, business brokers and nonfiction authors, “Have Expertise? Get Published! How to Pitch and Publish your Non-fiction Book.” · Mara Shalhoup, former editor, Creative Loafing, now employed in Chicago, "Stranger than Fiction: True Stories that Read Like Novels." · Haywood Smith, award-winning historical fiction novelist, "How to Create Characters That Jump Off the Page." · Patricia Patterson, author of Uncertain Choices and many short stories, essays and poetry, "On the Importance of Networking."
25. National Christian Writers Conference held in San Diego March 26
Antonio L. Crawford hosted bestselling authors Hugh Ballou, Kathi Macias, Pam Perry, Sherita Herring, Michelle Anton, and others at a recently held National Christian Writers Conference.
The annual event was held at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, Calif., on March 26.
The conference included a full day of sharing innovative techniques and information on how to write, publish and promote books in the Christian marketplace. Award winning authors, publishers, publicists and speakers shared their knowledge on how to succeed in the Christian publishing industry.
26. Major upcoming trade shows, book fairs and book festivals
April
April 11-13. London Book Fair . www.londonbookfair.co.uk
April
30-May 1.
Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. After 15 years at the UCLA campus in
Westwood, the festival, which has grown into one of the biggest in the country,
is moving to the University of Southern California's University Park Campus,
near downtown Los Angeles. Last year, more than 140,000 people attended.
April
30-May 1. Boston Comic Con, Hynes Convention Center.
May 23-26. BookExpo America, New York. www.bookexpoamerica.com National Stationery Show, New York.
June
June 24-29. American Library Association, Washington, DC. www.ala.org June 27–30. ICRS - International Christian Retail Show, St. Louis, Mo www.christianretailshow.com Printers Row Book Fair, Chicago. http://www.chicagotribune.com/about/events/printersrow The Australian Booksellers Association's, Melbourne. The International New Age Trade Show West
July July 21-24. Comic-Con International, San Diego, Calif. The grandfather of all comics shows, which began in 1970, and capped its attendance at 125,000 three years ago.
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The
Southern Review is edited by Noel Griese. The author of 17 books and
numerous articles on various subjects, he has been a newspaper reporter
and editor and has taught English and journalism at the Universities of
Wisconsin and Georgia. Elected to both Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi,
he holds three degrees in English and journalism.
