NEW YORK (AP) — Demi Moore wants to tell her story. Moore’s agent, Luke Janklow, confirmed Monday that the actress is working on a memoir and is meeting with publishers in New York. He declined to comment further. The 47-year-old Moore is known for her work in the films “Ghost” and “A Few Good Men.” In 1991, she posed naked and pregnant on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine. Moore has three daughters with former husband Bruce Willis. She married Ashton Kutcher in 2005.
May 17, 2010 | Posted in
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BERLIN (AP) — The German maker of a new tablet computer is setting out to rival Apple’s iPad with the promise of even more sophisticated technology. Neofonie GmbH says the WePad outperforms the iPad by sporting a bigger screen, a webcam and USB ports for connecting printers and other devices. The WePad is to be officially presented on Monday, along with information about its pricing. Berlin-based Neofonie says it hopes to appeal to publishers by allowing them to sell their content on its platform without monopolizing the customer relationship as Apple’s iTunes or Amazon’s Kindle do, thereby reducing publishers to a simple content supplier. Apple’s iPad has not yet gone on sale in Germany, and the WePad is expected to hit the stores earlier than Apple’s latest gadget.
April 12, 2010 | Posted in
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Amazon.com Inc. has reached new agreements with some publishers that had been fed up with the low prices Amazon charges for electronic books that go with its Kindle e-reader. This comes just as Apple Inc. is about to launch its competing iPad device. Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins said late Wednesday they have signed new e-book deals with Amazon. They declined to detail their agreements. But Simon & Schuster spokesman Adam Rothberg said his company’s agreement is similar to those that publishers have been striking with Apple for e-books on the iPad. With Apple’s model, some e-books will cost up to $14.99 initially – $5 more than Amazon charges for some popular e-books. Apple is insisting publishers don’t sell books at a lower price through a competitor.
April 1, 2010 | Posted in
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NEW YORK (AP) — Anne Rice is giving the video book a try. The author of “Interview With a Vampire,” “The Vampire Lestat” and many other favorites has agreed to terms with the video book company Vook on a multimedia edition of “The Master of Rampling Gate,” a vampire story published in Redbook magazine in 1984 and set in an England mansion in the 19th century. “Vook represents a very exciting combination of new technological elements, that I think is long overdo in publishing,” Rice said in a statement released Wednesday by Vook. “I’m excited that `The Master of Rampling Gate’ is going to have new life in this form, and cannot wait to see the finished product. I’m not sure that my mind can conceive of all the possibilities of this new form. I’m learning. And it feels good.” Opinions are still mixed among publishers and authors about video books, or vooks, with some calling them a gimmick and others saying new formats are needed for the Internet age. The product integrates text, video and social networking. Vook, based in Alameda, Calif., has been producing video books for Simon & Schuster and the HarperCollins imprint HarperStudio and also making works out of public domain texts. Vook founder Bradley Inman says “The Sherlock Holmes Experience,” based on two stories by Conan Doyle, has been downloaded thousands of times. The Rice project begins “a strategic publishing relationship” with Rice’s literary agency, Janklow & Nesbit Associates, according to Vook. No other specific writers were identified, but clients at Janklow & Nesbit include David McCullough, Edward P. Jones and the late Michael Crichton. “They (Vook) came in about two months ago and showed us some of their wares. I think it’s very interesting and I think the publishing world needs to really start looking for new ways to find readers,” said Lynn Nesbit of Janklow & Nesbit, who said other writers at the agency expressed strong interest in video books, although she declined to provide names. The Rice video book, which includes an author interview, will be released March 1 and can be purchased through the iPhone, iPod touch and other digital devices. The list price is $6.99.
February 10, 2010 | Posted in
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NEW YORK (AP) — New copies of Hilary Mantel’s “Wolf Hall,” Andrew Young’s “The Politician” and other books published by Macmillan were unavailable Saturday on Amazon.com, apparently the biggest rift yet in the ongoing dispute over e-book prices. An official with knowledge of the dispute said the two sides were in discussions, but would not say why Amazon.com Inc. took such a public step. The official asked not to be identified, citing the sensitivity of the talks. Macmillan and other publishers have criticized Amazon for charging just $9.99 for best-selling e-books on its Kindle e-reader, a price publishers say is too low and could hurt hardcover sales. For its part, Amazon wants to keep a lid on prices as competitors line up to challenge its dominant position in a rapidly expanding market. The company did not immediately return messages seeking comment Saturday. Barnes & Noble’s Nook and Sony Corp.’s e-book readers are already on sale. But the latest and most talked about challenger is Apple Inc., which just introduced the long-awaited iPad tablet computer and a new online book store modeled on iTunes. Apple CEO Steve Jobs, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, suggested publishers may offer some e-titles to Apple before they are allowed to go on sales at Amazon.com The e-book market is an increasingly important one for Amazon. The company hasn’t given specific sales figures on the Kindle, but CEO Jeff Bezos said Thursday that “millions” own the device. The company now sells six digital copies to every 10 physical ones of books available in either format. Authors and publishers also see opportunity in e-books, particularly as a way to expand the market for older titles that are more difficult for readers to obtain otherwise. But they worry that discounting by retailers will cannibalize sales of print editions. While Amazon typically sells new releases for just $9.99 in its Kindle store, hardcover editions generally carry a list price of more than $24. To preserve the more lucrative hardcover business, publishers including Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins Hachette Book Group USA have said they will impose delays on the release of digital copies. — AP Business Writer Andrew Vanacore in New York contributed to this report.
January 30, 2010 | Posted in
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