The South Korean company Naver, has just completed their acquisition of Toronto based Wattpad. The $600 million dollar price tag gives Naver, a competitive advantage against the Amazon Kindle Vella and Kakao. If you have not heard of Naver before, they are the company behind Webtoon, a digital comics platform.Wattpad’s co-founders Allen Lau and Ivan Yuen will continue their … [Read more...] about Naver completes their acquisition of Wattpad
Digital Publishing News
Harpercollins completes the acquisition of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Harpercollins is the number two publisher in the United States, behind Penguin Random House. The company has just completed the acquisition of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s consumer division for $349 million. The deal was originally announced in March and everything was completed very quickly.HMH Books & Media has a backlist of more than 7,000 titles and a significant … [Read more...] about Harpercollins completes the acquisition of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Major Publishers are selling a ton of ebooks in 2021
Harpercollins, Hachette, Simon and Schuster and Penguin Random House are four of the world's most prolific book publishers. In the first three months of 2021, they have experienced very strong audiobook and ebook sales. This trend should continue for the rest of the year, primarily due to COVID and more people shopping online, instead of visiting bookstores.Harpercollins … [Read more...] about Major Publishers are selling a ton of ebooks in 2021
Twitter acquires Scroll, planning a new subscription service soon
Twitter happens to be the new owners of Scroll, the company that offers an add-free news reading experience. Twitter though isn't revealing how much it is spending to buy Scroll, or how it plans to use the Scroll platform in the future.Scroll shot to limelight with its ingenious method that allowed users access to premium news articles with no annoying ads popping up to mar … [Read more...] about Twitter acquires Scroll, planning a new subscription service soon
Authors banding together to get Disney to pay royalty payments
A task force made up authors, spanning a wide array of genres has been formed in an attempt to persuade Disney into paying outstanding royalties for novels and comic books. This relates to properties that Disney has acquired in the past few years, such as Star Wars. When Disney bought the franchise, the company refused to pay outstanding royalties to authors. Disney has stated … [Read more...] about Authors banding together to get Disney to pay royalty payments
Is Digital Publishing Overlooking their Biggest Consumer?
Everywhere you look on social media, it seems like it's Gen Z versus Millennials versus Boomers (Gen X is sitting this one out, giving everyone the side-eye). But one thing recent events have taught us is that the stereotypes that have been assigned to these different age demographics are typically wrong... and that these preconceived notions might be most inaccurate when it … [Read more...] about Is Digital Publishing Overlooking their Biggest Consumer?
Big Changes that May Save Barnes and Noble
Everyone is talking about Barnes and Noble CEO James Daunt's keynote address to the Independent Book Publishers Association annual event recently. This important talk offered a lot of insight into crucial changes at the brick-and-mortar locations (especially as to how the company is bouncing back from a global pandemic), from mundane changes like new furniture to major … [Read more...] about Big Changes that May Save Barnes and Noble
University Press Library initiative will ensure a consistent revenue stream for the publishers
A consortium of sixteen university presses has joined hands with the Berlin-based scholarly publishing house, De Gruyter in a bid to push eBook sales between the university libraries and the presses. The central idea behind the move is to ensure the institutions sell all of their latest digital publications to the university libraries.This will ensure a steady revenue … [Read more...] about University Press Library initiative will ensure a consistent revenue stream for the publishers
Book Buying Habits Really Aren’t Changing… That Much
As the publishing industry changes and adapts to new circumstances, the book-selling industry must adapt as well. Changes in formats, rising popularity of different genres and crossovers, and even worldwide pandemics that spark global lockdowns have all had an impact on how consumers buy and utilize books in the last few years. Fortunately, there are ways to understand book … [Read more...] about Book Buying Habits Really Aren’t Changing… That Much
Penguin Random House had a fantastic 2020
Penguin Random House generated $4.5 billion USD in 2020, compared to $4.3 billion in 2019. This was primarily due to the critical success of Barack Obama's A Promised Land, which sold more than 7.3 million copies worldwide across all formats and Michelle Obama's Becoming. The publisher recently announced the takeover of U.S. publisher Simon & Schuster in November. The deal … [Read more...] about Penguin Random House had a fantastic 2020
Should You Start an Author Podcast?
Podcasts are nothing new, but it may have taken a devastating global pandemic to breathe some new life into the medium. While a number of widely-consumed podcasts have been around for years, the need for new content and new ways to enjoy it have brought about a new wave of podcast popularity.First, some numbers. This article from Passive Voice highlights the findings of the … [Read more...] about Should You Start an Author Podcast?
KDP Change Means No More MOBI Files
Uploading self-published or small press titles to Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing platform has made a tremendous difference in the industry for authors and publishers alike. This somewhat user-friendly system means practically anyone can publish a book to the company's platform and sell their titles directly to readers on Amazon.For years, Amazon has had specific formats … [Read more...] about KDP Change Means No More MOBI Files
Amazon Bans Some Anti-LGBTQ Titles from its Platform
While a significant portion of Conservatives have begun crying "cancel culture" at what they see as attacks on their belief systems, even more segments of society are taking a hard look at the content that we not only consume, but also profit from. Dr. Seuss became the poster child for "cancel culture" when his estate made the decision to stop publishing six of his earliest … [Read more...] about Amazon Bans Some Anti-LGBTQ Titles from its Platform