PublishersLunch
As promised, Pottermore
has placed on sale French, Italian, Spanish and German editions of the Harry Potter ebooks.
Former book-to-film agent Nick Harris, who
left ICM recently, is starting a new company with funding from his
brother-in-law Jason Traub. In the vein of Alloy Entertainment and Full Fathom
Five, The Story
Foundation will create books in the packager model--saying they
will split proceeds 50/50 "most of the time" with authors--and aims
to develop those books as film/TV projects and for "other multi-platform
opportunities." Harris tells Deadline
he is already worked on five projects, based on his own ideas. "After
parting ways with ICM, I literally flung myself into this. We'll pay writers,
mainly in the young adult and high-concept commercial ideas, and we'll work
closely with publishing agents to make a deal and we'll put money into the
marketing over and above what the publisher is doing. We're hiring an editor
who'll work with us on shaping a proposal, or even a full manuscript."
Start-up ebookseller Bilbary.com
announced an agreement with the State Library of Kansas, under which the
library will link to Bilbary for ebook sales. State librarian Joanne Budler
says "we hope our relationship with Bilbary diminishes the intimidation
publishers feel when interacting with libraries and improves mutual
understanding to build a better dialogue – which will lead to improved
understanding and policies." Commissions earned on such sales "will
be given back to Bilbary to be used for developmental purposes...to create and
improve its capabilities for Kansas patrons, while also paving the way for a
rental model to be integrated." They hope to develop a model for
"subsidized lending of e-books" in libraries. Bilbary is also
developing a consumer rental model, offering loans for periods from 30 to 360
days.
Separately, the St. Paul Library
system in Minnesota has become
a beta tester for 3M's library ebook lending service.
Noted briefly yesterday, USA Today covers
a collective of 11 romance authors who have created a branded identity--Rock*It Reads--that
they hope will distinguish their books as "high-quality self-published
works." and "signal to readers that they're getting a story that's
been tended with the same level of attention and professionalism." With a
joint website
and newsletter, they will also cross-promote the members' books to their shared
audience. The group is writing a Love Rocks column on Barnes & Noble's
website to "highlight great romances and initiate conversation about
self-pubbed romances as well as traditionally published."
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