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Akashic Hits the Jackpot with 'Go The F*** to Sleep' Now at 275,000
Calling the book a "fluke hit," Johnny Temple, publisher of Brooklyn Indie house Akashic Books, said he couldn’t be happier about the frenzy over Go The F**K to Sleep by Adam Mansbach and Ricardo Cortes, a parody of a kids’ picture book that he’s about to release. The surprise hit title has more than 275,000 copies in print and doesn’t go on sale until June 14.
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In Major Deal, EBSCO Acquires H.W. Wilson
In a blockbuster deal for the library market, EBSCO Publishing announced that it has acquired the Bronx-based H.W. Wilson Company. Wilson, which offers more than 80 databases on its well-regarded WilsonWeb platform is a natural fit for EBSCO, a database industry leader with more than 300 databases and nearly 300,000 e-books available via its EBSCOhost platform.
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Classic Rhetoric Sells for David Godine
That a book on classical rhetoric could sell well enough to go into multiple printings even surprised its publisher, David Godine of the eponymous Boston-based press, David R. Godine Publishers. Initially, he doubted whether Farnsworth’s Classical English Rhetoric by Boston University School of Law professor Ward Farnsworth could sell out its first printing of 4,000 hardcovers. But since its late December release, the book has gone back to press twice for a total of 12,000 copies in print. It’s in the top 100 at Amazon for both Education and Reference, words and language.
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New Business Publisher Launches in Boston
Two former executives of Nicholas Brealey Publishing’s U.S. operations have launched the business publisher Bibliomotion (www.bibliomotion.com) in Boston, Mass. Erika Heilman will serve as publisher and Jill Friedlander as president of the new company, which will release books in both digital and print format, starting in spring 2012.
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Penguin Launches Merchandise Line
Penguin is arguable the best known publishing brand in the country and the company is hoping to leverage the Penguin cache by developing a catalogue of sideline products. Penguin Merchandise, whose first products will ship in June, includes a range of products from its well-known tote bags, blank notebooks, mugs, and “gear” (umbrellas and onesie baby clothing for ages 3 to 18 months). Penguin CEO David Shanks said Penguin decided to develop the merchandise line to give bookstores and other retailers that are looking to sell more nonbook items, products that have some relationship to books.
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More Reorganzing as Gibbs Smith Works to Rebound
Gibbs Smith Publishing, which celebrated its 40th anniversary last year and is regarded as one of the most distinctive lifestyle publishers in the U.S., is reorganizing the company in order to meet the financial challenges it has faced since 2008. “As every publisher knows, the world changed in October 2008,” said Gibbs Smith CEO Christopher Robbins. “Until that time our average unit sales were increasing every year, but we were forced to reduce out staff by 39% in February 2009 in order to preserve our cash flow.”
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What's Amazon Up To?
Easily the most speculated about issue at BEA last week was just how fast and how far Amazon will push into publishing now that it has named Larry Kirshbaum to head its New York publishing arm. Amazon's official position is that it will continue to open new imprints in more genres as it already has in romance (Montlake Romance) and mysteries and thrillers (Thomas & Mercer).
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News Briefs: Week of 5/30/2011
Borders Lost $132 Million in April and more.
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Regnery Forms History Imprint
This fall Regnery Publishing wll launch a new history imprint aimed at giving more attention to subjects and events that have tended to be overlooked, according to Alex Novak, Regnery associate publisher who is overseeing the imprint. The launch list includes Founding Rivals: Madison vs. Monroe and the Election That Created the Bill of Rights and Changed a Nation. In addition to history titles, the imprint will publish new history, biography, and military history titles, mostly as hardcovers and e-books.
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Black Classic Press Acquires Howard University Press backlist; Plans New Editions
After 39 years of distinguished scholarly publishing focused on African American life and history around the world, the Howard University Press is closing its doors. The university has reached an agreement with Baltimore-based Black Classic Press, an African American independent press and print-on-demand vendor, to acquire a selection of the press’s backlist of more than 175 scholarly titles, with plans to reissue most of them in new editions under BCP’s new line of Howard University Classic Editions.
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Kirshbaum Named Publisher of Amazon Publishing Group
Amazon has named former Time Warner Book Group CEO and current agent Larry Kirshbaum v-p and publishing for Amazon Publishing’s New York office. The appointment is effective immediately, although Kirshbaum’s first official day is not until July 5. Kirshbaum’s appointment ends an extensive search by the e-tailer to find a publishing veteran to head a New York office, as PW first reported two weeks ago.
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Publication Studio: A Nonfranchise Franchise
In a borrowed storefront in Portland, Ore., Matthew Stadler, author and Clear Cut Press cofounder, and a young writer named Patricia No used an inexpensive, perfect-binding machine to launch Publication Studio in 2009. Their idea: to make books they loved and to host community events that cultivated the social life of those books. Two years later, "sibling" Publication Studios have sprung up in Berkeley, Calif.; Vancouver, B.C.; Minneapolis, Toronto, and, earlier this month, Los Angeles—run by what Stadler calls like-minded "fellow travelers" on the independent publishing trail. "I think of it as the opposite of franchising," said Stadler.
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News Briefs: Week of 5/23/2011
RosettaBooks Debuts Mayo Clinic E-books and More.
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PoliPoint Sells More Titles
Three days after announcing the sale of seven titles to Berrett-Koehler Publishers, PoliPoint Press in Sausalito, Calif. has reached an agreement with Paradigm Publishers to sell an additional 13 backlist titles to the Colorado-based press effective May 28, 2011. "Whether or not we can still exist depends on the revenue these sales realize," said PoliPoint's publisher, Scott Jordan.
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S&S to Open India Division
As part of a global expansion, Simon & Schuster is opening a new division in New Delhi. Simon & Schuster India will be overseen by Ian Chapman, who is managing director and chief executive of Simon & Schuster UK.
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Amazon Starts Mystery Imprint Thomas & Mercer
After announcing it would publish romance novels through a new imprint called Montlake, Amazon has unveiled its next genre imprint, Thomas & Mercer, which is focused on mysteries and thrillers. Thomas & Mercer will release its first four titles in Fall 2011.
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Ancient Mysteries Hot for Inner Traditions
Inner Traditions has enjoyed solid sales increases in its ancient mystery titles for a few years and it thinks it has another hit in the genre with its just-released Black Genesis: The Prehistoric Origins of Ancient Egypt. With a first printing of 10,000, Black Genesis sold 1,200 copies through Amazon in its first three weeks on sale.
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Arcadia Books to Open in Wisconsin
James Bohnen, the director of Wisconsin’s American Players Theatre, one of the country’s largest outdoor theaters, is opening an independent bookstore in downtown Spring Green, near Madison, on May 20. Arcadia Books will be a full-service general bookstore, carrying 8,000-10,000 titles, with an emphasis on literature, drama, poetry, history, cookbooks, and children’s books.
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PoliPoint Sells Seven Titles to Berrett-Koehler
PoliPoint Press is selling seven backlist titles to Berrett-Koehler Publishers of San Francisco for an undisclosed sum in a deal to be completed May 28. According to PoliPoint publisher Scott Jordan, BK has “the right kinds of marketing muscle and vertically integrated distribution to reach new audiences for these fantastic titles.” Although the seven titles will be changing hands they will continue to be distributed through Ingram Publisher Services, the distributor for both PoliPoint and BK.
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