Category Archives: Uncategorized

People Roundup, January 2012

PEOPLE Macmillan President, Brian Napack, has left the company, where he had also served as Chairman and CEO of Scientific American. He will announce plans early in 2012. Also at Macmillan, Kingfisher has hired Brian Buerkle as Associate Publisher, Director of Marketing, replacing Angus Killick who has been named VP, Associate Publisher, Macmillan Children’s. Buerkle…Continue Reading

Guilty? Innocent? What’s the end-of-the-year ruling in the battle of the ereaders?

Things heated up in the tablet/ereader race this month as more in-depth reviews—and in some cases, criticisms—were being published just in time for the last weeks of holiday shopping. The Kindle Fire was the player most sweating it out in the hot seat this month with lots of complaints ranging from lack of external volume…Continue Reading

Pepsi? Coke? Who wins the taste test in this month’s ereader review roundup?

With the announcement of the new Nook Tablet, all the key ereader players appear to have entered the ring in time for the holiday season. And while it remains to be seen what effect Rakuten’s acquisition of Kobo will have on the device in the long run, quality-wise, all the ereaders appear to be in…Continue Reading

People Roundup, November 2011

PEOPLE Ira Silverberg has been named Literature Director at the National Endowment for the Arts. He was most recently an agent at Sterling Lord Literistic. Angus Killick will be joining Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group as VP and Associate Publisher, reporting to Jon Yaged, President of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group (MCPG). In this newly-created position, Killick…Continue Reading

Rudolf? Blitzen? Who will go down in history in the holiday e-reader market?

Lest you think that last month’s announcement of Amazon’s new heavy-hitting team of Kindles means it has a monopoly on the market, Kobo has come out swinging with the news of its Vox tablet. Playing up the more social aspects of the ereader, Vox offers social media features that make sharing while reading all the…Continue Reading

Pivotcon Profiles the Power of the Social Consumer

(Version 3.0 of The Conversation Prism infographic first created by Brian Solis and JESS3 in 2008 to map the social media universe by “features and capabilities.”) When Pivotcon kicked off in October, 2010, Douglas Rushkoff christened it the“TED of Marketing.” Programmed and hosted this year by new media guru Brian Solis, Pivotcon brought together  635…Continue Reading

People Roundup, October 2011

PEOPLE Rodale’s Publisher, Karen Rinaldi has left the company following a reorganization.  She may be reached at karen.rinaldi1@gmail.com. David Zinczenko and Steve Perrine will take over the book group.  Top executives Ken Citron and Gregg Michaelson, along with Senior Director Operations Bill Siebert, will also leave the company. Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) has hired Michael…Continue Reading

The Agent-Publisher Business Model: New Approaches to ePublishing Solutions

Lately, it seems as if you can’t read a daily or a blog without some commentary or announcement about literary agents who are now offering epublishing services (including the recently announced Trident E-Book Operations). Many agencies are creating publishing arms, and the concept has long been an issue, ever since Richard Curtis was drummed out…Continue Reading

The Sleeping Giant Wakes—what does this mean for the war of the ereaders?

It was the press conference heard round the tech/publishing world last Wednesday when Jeff Bezos announced the Kindle Touch, a dedicated touch screen ereader, and Kindle Fire, the long awaited Amazon tablet. These new products, combined with surprisingly low price points, are enough to be a real game changer, causing Barnes & Noble’s stock to…Continue Reading

Muhammad Ali? George Foreman? Who are this month’s heavyweights in the e-reader market?

This past month in the e-reader market, Amazon has already set itself ahead of the pack with the launch of its HTML5 cloud-based e-reader system in response to Apple’s new in-app subscription rules. While the Kindle Cloud Reader definitely wags its finger at Apple, asserting Amazon’s refusal to give Apple 30% of its revenue, many…Continue Reading