PaperC has partnered with Elsevier and will be the first e-bookstore to offer individual pages and chapters for sale from the publisher.
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Rethinking Book Club Biz, Bertelsmann Disbands “Direct Group”
After scaling back its book club business over the last three years, Bertelsmann is disbanding its Direct Group as a stand-alone division as of June 30th.
Germany’s Galiani Verlag to Publish Ai Weiwei’s Blog as Book
By Siobhan O’Leary BERLIN: Chinese artist Ai Weiwei had plans to temporarily relocate to Berlin when he was detained by police at Beijing airport on April 3rd and taken to an undisclosed location. When his latest exhibition opened at Galerie Neugerriemschneider as part of Berlin’s 7th annual Gallery Weekend earlier this month, the artist was not in attendance. He had earlier …
Why Mergers Are Like Marriages: Aufbau and Eichborn Make Strange Bedfellows in Germany
“The publisher with the fly” takes a dive: Germany is abuzz with rumors that the Eichborn/Aufbau merger may be a bust. By Siobhan O’Leary When representatives of Eichborn Verlag and Aufbau Verlag held a press conference in Berlin in January to announce their intended collaboration and Eichborn’s anticipated move from Frankfurt to Berlin, it seemed that the two large German …
Germans are Hot: Hangman’s Daughter Sells 100,000 on Amazon
by Siobhan O’Leary For years, those who move and shake in the international publishing scene have bemoaned the fact that only three percent of the books published in the US are books published in translation. There are signs, however, that German authors — from Jenny Erpenbeck to Daniel Kehlmann — are gaining in popularity worldwide. Ullstein’s foreign rights director Pia …
Germany Legislates Protection for “Content” Creators
By Siobhan O’Leary A new initiative backed by the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels was announced earlier this month in Berlin, the goal of which is to provide stronger representation for the creative industries in politics and beyond. The Deutsche Content Allianz was outlined in a joint declaration to the public and calls for a fair business environment for these industries …
Bertelsmann Boosted By Sarrazin’s Million-copy Bestseller
By Siobhan O’Leary Random House parent Bertelsmann has announced its final results for 2010, the year of its 175th anniversary, showing signs nearly across the board that cost-saving measures and digital expansion are having a positive impact. Revenues for the Bertelsmann Group as a whole increased by 4.5% to €15.8 billion in 2010 and profits jumped from €35 million to …
Using Text to “Enhance” E-books and Other Insights from the 2011 Leipzig Book Fair
Germany’s second biggest book fair offers a barometer of what’s obsessing the world’s third largest publishing industry By Siobhan O’Leary LEIPZIG: Students from the HTWK Leipzig [Hochschule für Technik, Wirtschaft und Kultur] emerged before a standing room only crowd at an event titled “rethinking the book” at the Leipzig Book Fair on Thursday afternoon, well-prepared to present the fruits of …
Dryas Donates Proceeds From Travel Book to Japan Relief
By Siobhan O’Leary In an almost prescient move, German publisher Dryas Verlag has spent the last year donating 50 cents from every sale of the book Schattenläufer und Perlenmädchen – Abenteuer Alltag in Japan to the Japanese chapter of Doctors Without Borders to be used in the event of an earthquake. In light of the tragic events of the past week, publisher …
Germany’s De Gruyter Tests PDA…Patron Driven Acquisition, That Is
By Siobhan O’Leary German academic publisher De Gruyter is teaming up with the Forschungszentrum Jülich to test out an acquisition model that aims to better align library spending with customer demand. With “Patron Driven Acquisition” (i.e. acquisition that is determined by customers), a library borrows or purchases a book only when there is a specific demand for it. According to …