Sunday, April 25, 2010

Bestselling Author M.C. Beaton Makes Electronic Editions of Two Historical Romance Series

Amazon.com announced that two historical romance series of six titles each from the bestselling author M.C. Beaton--also known by her real name Marion Chesney--are available exclusively in the Kindle Store (www.amazon.com/kindlestore). These books are from the previously out-of-print series "Six Sisters" and "The Traveling Matchmaker." This is the first time any of the titles have been available electronically, and the 12 books will be exclusive to the Kindle Store for one year. Rosetta Books is the publisher of the electronic editions. The Kindle Store now includes over 480,000 books and the largest selection of the most popular books people want to read, including New York Times Bestsellers and New Releases. Over 1.8 million free, out-of-copyright, pre-1923 books are also available to read on Kindle, including titles such as "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," "Pride and Prejudice" and "Treasure Island."

"For the first time ever, Marion Chesney's fans will be able to discover and read these previously out-of-print books and enjoy them not only on Kindle, but also on their iPhone, iPod touch, BlackBerry, PC, Mac and iPad," said Melissa Kirmayer, Director, Kindle Content. "With its light weight which makes it fit comfortably in one hand for hours, its e-ink display that is easy on the eyes even in bright daylight and two weeks of battery, Kindle is a great way to read an author as prolific as Marion Chesney--or M.C. Beaton as many know her."

M.C. Beaton is the most well-known pseudonym for author Marion Chesney, who is best known for her two most recent bestselling mystery series "Agatha Raisin" and "Hamish Macbeth," each of which have been published for several decades. While M.C. Beaton is the pseudonym she reserves for mystery novels, Marion Chesney has also written under the names Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Helen Crampton, and Charlotte Ward. All names combined, the author has written over 100 books. These electronic books will be listed under the names M.C. Beaton and Marion Chesney in the Kindle Store.

Authentic, Paternoster Imprints Transition to Biblica Publishing

Biblica, Inc. announces it is launching its refocused publishing ministry as Biblica Publishing. To clarify ministry and market purpose and refocus its publishing ministry, Biblica has folded its Authentic and Paternoster imprints into the Biblica Publishing division.

"We're thrilled to have this opportunity to refocus our publishing efforts for 21st century worldwide Christian readers," said Scott Bolinder, Biblica's President of Global Publishing. "This transition gives us a unique opportunity to reach the global Church with Bibles and biblical resources that challenge people to engage more deeply in God's Word for the purpose of transforming lives one person at a time."

Biblica Publishing will be central to the ministry of each of our areas throughout the world. Globally, we will focus our portfolio in the categories of Bible studies, spiritual formation, church leadership and ministry resources, popular reference, world mission, evangelism, biblical reconciliation, and practical theology. However, local areas will have some liberty to customize their lists based on their regional needs. Content will be published in print and electronic formats and will be available through multiple channels, including retail, churches, ministries, and consumers.

In North America, Biblica Book Publisher, Volney James remarked, "As Biblica Publishing, we will support our mission by publishing low-cost, outreach Bibles as well as books and content for the global community, missional in focus, transformational in intent, to help people fulfill their Kingdom calling. Our target audience around the world is the reader who desires to understand the Bible and how it relates to all of life." Biblica Bible Publisher Glenn Paauw added, "We are excited about the potential to engage Bible readers in fresh ways both with innovative resources and creative programs."

Later this year, Biblica Publishing will release the 2010 edition of Operation World, one of the most definitive compilations of information on world missions and global prayer. "This book really defines who Biblica is as a publisher," said Bolinder. "Like no other publication in existence, Operation World educates readers on the conditions that exist in every nation on earth, but it also encourages them to be an active, dynamic participant in praying for and reaching people globally." More than 4 million copies of Operation World have been used in multiple languages since it was originally published in the mid 1970s.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Authentic, Paternoster Imprints Transition to Biblica Publishing

Biblica, Inc. will launch its refocused publishing ministry as Biblica Publishing. To clarify ministry and market purpose and refocus its publishing ministry, Biblica has folded its Authentic and Paternoster imprints into the Biblica Publishing division.

"We're thrilled to have this opportunity to refocus our publishing efforts for 21st century worldwide Christian readers," said Scott Bolinder, Biblica's President of Global Publishing. "This transition gives us a unique opportunity to reach the global Church with Bibles and biblical resources that challenge people to engage more deeply in God's Word for the purpose of transforming lives one person at a time."

Biblica Publishing will be central to the ministry of each of our areas throughout the world. Globally, we will focus our portfolio in the categories of Bible studies, spiritual formation, church leadership and ministry resources, popular reference, world mission, evangelism, biblical reconciliation, and practical theology. However, local areas will have some liberty to customize their lists based on their regional needs. Content will be published in print and electronic formats and will be available through multiple channels, including retail, churches, ministries, and consumers.

In North America, Biblica Book Publisher, Volney James remarked, "As Biblica Publishing, we will support our mission by publishing low-cost, outreach Bibles as well as books and content for the global community, missional in focus, transformational in intent, to help people fulfill their Kingdom calling. Our target audience around the world is the reader who desires to understand the Bible and how it relates to all of life." Biblica Bible Publisher Glenn Paauw added, "We are excited about the potential to engage Bible readers in fresh ways both with innovative resources and creative programs."

Later this year, Biblica Publishing will release the 2010 edition of Operation World, one of the most definitive compilations of information on world missions and global prayer. "This book really defines who Biblica is as a publisher," said Bolinder. "Like no other publication in existence, Operation World educates readers on the conditions that exist in every nation on earth, but it also encourages them to be an active, dynamic participant in praying for and reaching people globally." More than 4 million copies of Operation World have been used in multiple languages since it was originally published in the mid 1970s.

Publishers Weekly Acquired by Former PW Publisher George Slowik, Jr. and Partners

New York City-based PWxyz, LLC announced today that it has acquired Publishers Weekly, publishersweekly.com and Publishers Weekly Show Daily from Reed Business Information-US (www.reedbusiness.com/us).

The new company will retain all of Publishers Weekly editorial, art and advertising employees and will maintain its headquarters in New York City’s publishing hub. Cevin Bryerman as publisher, and Jim Milliot and Michael Coffey as co-editors, will continue to lead the publication’s management team. According to Slowik, PWxyz will leverage Publishers Weekly brand equity and talent pool to extend the franchise to a wider electronic and international footprint.

PWxyz, LLC is a newly organized company led by President George W. Slowik, Jr. and created to acquire Publishers Weekly magazine, Publishers Weekly Show Daily, http://www.publishersweekly.com/ and all related assets.

Shoulderhill Films Options Screenplay By Bestselling Author Andrew Klavan

ShoulderHill Films, a subsidiary of ShoulderHill Entertainment has optioned best-selling author and screenwriter Andrew Klavan's screenplay Bury The Dead. The supernatural thriller/horror film tells the story of a young couple who wanders into a strange village where they witness a bizarre ritual killing and realize they may be next in line. The film is scheduled to begin production in late 2010.

Andrew Klavan is the author of many internationally bestselling novels. Twice given the Edgar Award for mystery writing, he is the author of True Crime, which Academy Award-winning director Clint Eastwood turned into a major motion picture. Klavan also wrote the novel Don't Say A Word, which became a 20th Century Fox release starring Michael Douglas and Brittany Murphy. In March 2010, Summit Entertainment, makers of Hurt Locker and the Twilight movies, optioned Klavan's Homelanders series of young adult thriller novels. Klavan's previous screenplays include One Missed Call, which stars Ed Burns and Shannyn Sossamon and A Shock to the System, starring Michael Caine. Klavan is represented by Gersh.

ShoulderHill Entertainment is currently planning to shoot the film in the UK with Steven Addair attached to direct. ShoulderHill recently opened a new office in London with Jim Hall named as Managing Director. Created in 2005 as a full service production company with a commercial client roster, ShoulderHill moved into full-time feature production last October when it hired Susann Brinkley as Head of Development.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Tom Clancy, #1 International Bestselling Author, to be Published by Penguin Group

Tom Clancy, #1 international bestselling author, bestselling videogame presenter and one of the preeminent and most prescient storytellers of our time, has written a modern-day techno-thriller like nothing he has ever done before called Dead or Alive. The eagerly-awaited novel will be published by G. P. Putnam's Sons in the U. S. and by Michael Joseph in the U.K. on December 7, 2010, it was announced today by David Shanks, CEO of Penguin Group (USA) and Tom Weldon, Deputy CEO of Penguin U.K. The publication of Dead or Alive will be a global publishing event, featuring, for the first time ever, many of his greatest characters, including Jack Ryan and John Clark, and brings readers inside the present-day war on terror. Berkley Books will publish the paperback edition of the title in the U.S. in 2011.

In Clancy's new novel, written in collaboration with U.S. Navy veteran Grant Blackwood, Jack Ryan, Jr. and his colleagues at the Campus, a secret U.S. counter-terrorism organization, have been waging an unofficial and highly effective campaign against the terrorists who threaten Western civilization. As Dead or Alive opens, the war on terror is far from won, but winning it doesn't appear to be a priority for President Kealty, Jack Ryan's successor in the Oval Office. The Emir, a sadistic killer who has masterminded the most vicious terrorist attacks on the West, has eluded capture by the world's armed forces and law enforcement agencies. Now the Campus is on his trail. Joined by their latest recruits, John Clark and Ding Chavez, Jack Ryan, Jr. and his cousins Dominick and Brian Caruso are ordered to catch the Emir and they will bring him in...dead or alive.

Trident Media Group Taps Vook to Publish Deepak Chopra Titles

Vook today announced a strategic publishing relationship with renowned literary agency Trident Media Group. Trident Media Group also announced today plans for its first two vooks, one by best-selling author Deepak Chopra and the other featuring interviews with acclaimed academics from the Chopra Foundation's Symposium: Sages and Scientists: The Merging of a New Future.

A vook is a mixed-media form that blends video, text, images and social streams into a single, integrated experience. Vooks can be streamed to the browser-based Vook Reader or downloaded as a unique mobile application. Trident Media Group and Vook will collaborate with Deepak Chopra to release a vook of his novel, "Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment," as well as a vook featuring world-renowned doctors, philosophers, thinkers and theologians from the Chopra Foundation's Sages and Scientists Symposium discussing groundbreaking ways that science and religion can work together to create a better world. Featured scholars include: Larry Dossey, Hans Peter Duerr, G. Patrick Flanagan, Ervin Laszlo, Rustum Roy, Marilyn Schlitz, Vladimir L. Voeikov, Fred Alan Wolf, Jim Tucker, Juliana Brooks Mortenson, and Marc Newkirk.

"I am delighted to be working with Vook and am grateful that Trident Media brought me this opportunity," said Deepak Chopra. "We are entering a new era of multimedia expression that brings information and knowledge into the human nervous system through a variety of sensory inputs. For the last 25 years, I have written about consciousness and the ramifications of understanding our spirit through the window of science. Today I believe this is possible because of new technologies, and I am thrilled that 'Buddha' will reach what I hope is a critical mass of people as a multimedia adventure story on enlightenment. At the same time, I am very happy to see the great work of 'Sages and Scientists,' which I hope will reach millions of people through this vook."

About Vook Vook is a digital publisher that mixes media including text, video, pictures, social media and links to create new experiences of the books and authors that readers love. Vook's publishing tool, MotherVook, provides publishers with the ability to quickly and cost-effectively produce high quality mixed media e-book titles. Vooks are streamed to the browser-based Vook Reader and are also available on-the-go as a unique mobile application. Vook is based in Alameda, CA with offices in New York. For more information about vooks, visit http://www.vook.com/.

Ingram Content Group Inc. today will provide publisher content to Apple's new iBookstore

Through CoreSource, Ingram's solution for the storage, management, and distribution of digital content, publishers will be able to submit eBooks to iBookstore for availability on Apple's new iPad.

"Digital book distribution is changing the publishing industry, and Apple is positioned to be a key player with the iPad. With Ingram, Apple is working with industry experts who understand the fundamentals of book distribution and the complexities of the digital model. We're pleased to be able to offer this new channel to publishers," said Phil Ollila, Chief Content Officer, Ingram Content Group.

Ingram will help manage the relationship between publishers and Apple. This will enable a publisher's catalog to be ingested, converted into ePub, Apple's required format, and submitted to the iBookstore.

Ingram currently distributes over 500,000 digital assets to major retailers and distributors worldwide. Ingram invests in the latest digital technologies and resources so publishers can invest in the next generation of eBooks. To learn more about Ingram's Apple Referral Program and CoreSource, visit: www.ingramcontent.com/apple.