Thursday, December 02, 2010

Penguin Will Finish Year With New Oprah Pick

PublishersLunch

Next Monday, December 6, Jonathan Franzen will appear on the Oprah Winfrey Show--and the host will announce her new book club pick. It's a fat paperback from Penguin, categorized as a novel (of course), with an unknown page count but a listed shipping weight of 1.9 pounds. The print book has a list price of $20, but the ebook currently has an agency price of only $7.99.

Yes Virginia, There Is a Google eBook Service

 Google has been saying most recently that they will launch their new ebook service in the US before the end of the year, and last night the WSJ reported that the company is "in the final stages of launching its long-awaited e-book retailing venture"--missing the first night of Hanukkah, but with a good shot at arriving before Christmas. But "publishers cautioned [the service] has been delayed before and could be delayed again."

ABA members have begun executing contracts to participate, and numerous publishers have told us they have signed on, and "several publishers said they were exchanging files with Google--a sign that it is close to launch, publishers say." The Journal claims the initiative "recently has cleared several technical and legal hurdles, people close to the company say," without adding specifics.

WSJ

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