05/18/2012 @ 07:00PM
Guided by the mission to put life’s energy in the hands of readers, Tokyo-based Sunmark Publishing publishes books about self-help/improvement, health, and general well-being. Company president and publisher Nobutaka Ueki says, “Everything that works in accordance with nature is important. A book to us is a form of energy. After working with an author to create an energy-filled book, we carry out a series of promotional campaigns to boost the book with even more energy.” Sunmark, he adds, produces positive-energy books that advocate the joy of living and seek to provide relief from the stresses of life. “A book based on scandals may sell like hot cakes, but will ultimately produce negative energy. This is not for us.”
05/18/2012 @ 07:00PM
Selling Abroad
The top three titles on Sweden’s fiction list in April were all in new positions, including Kristina Ohlsson’s Hostage. Ohlsson published her first book in the U.S. in February 2012 with Atria—Unwanted, a mystery cited for “superior prose, plotting, and characterization” in its starred review from PW. Sweden’s top title, Sacrifice to Moloch, is by Åsa Larsson, who has also published in the U.S., including 2008’s The Black Path (Delta), which received a star from PW.
05/14/2012 @ 12:00AM
Cooking up a storm while chattering about children's books on TV may sound like a strange match. But Vadim Meshcheryakov, who loves to cook, thinks his "A Book Kitchen" idea makes perfect sense. "Cooking takes place in a convivial atmosphere, where friendly chats are most conducive. You can talk about anything—including books—while dishing up some good stuff to eat."
05/14/2012 @ 12:00AM
Producing a biblical-themed illustrated English alphabet book is nothing new. But outsourcing its production to the largely Hindu India, where vendors are known for their prowess in the SSTM segment, is something else. It shows how much the Indian content services industry has expanded over the years, moving from the technical to the more creative side of the business.
05/11/2012 @ 12:00AM
When it comes to publishing Russian translations, no one has done it longer—or more successfully—than Peter Mayer. During his tenure as chairman and CEO of Penguin, from 1978 to 1997, the publishing house launched a series of Russian classics that any budding bookworm should read from cover to cover or purchase for his or her library.
05/07/2012 @ 12:00AM
Launched in 2000, the Debut Prize is an independent literary award for authors under 35 years of age. It is supported by the Pokolenie Foundation, founded in 1996 by politician and philanthropist Andrei Skoch. So far, 73 works have won from the 50,000-plus entries received each year.
05/01/2012 @ 12:00AM
Perm, Russia's 14th most populous city, with around one million people (called Permyaks), is home to the two-year-old Piotrovsky Book Store. Named after the city's first bookseller, Yuseff Yulianovitch Piotrovsky of the 19th century, the store was the brainchild of four friends: a historian (Denis Korneevsky, director of Perm's inaugural book fair last year), a philosopher (Dmitriy Vyatkin), a philologist (Mikhail Maltsev), and a poet (Sergey Panin).
05/01/2012 @ 12:00AM
In the past 15 years, much has changed in journal production services, the first segment outsourced to India. New technology, publishing models, and workflows have created a demand for ever more automation and faster production. And for Bangalore-based MPS Limited, the pioneer in journal services, tracking the segment's shifts and trends is standard business.
04/23/2012 @ 12:00AM
In conjunction with the Content Services in India 2012 print report (published on April 23), PW will be adding new articles every other week on the state of the content services industry. Check back here regularly for interviews with content services vendors, product developers and publishers that will unveil new services, solutions and technologies.
04/23/2012 @ 12:00AM
Most content services vendors are after the big game, aka the U.S. market, which usually brings in more than half of their business. This tends to be supplemented by several major accounts in continental Europe, mostly from Germany, where the STM and journal segments are established and mature. Only a few are tapping into the Scandinavian market, despite its reputation for having avid readers and prolific authors. PW talks to Jan Barsnes, co-owner of eBokNorden and Prograph in Norway, about the Scandinavian e-book industry and how he goes about outsourcing his projects.
The Roundup for Book News
Publishing news from across the Web
A New Delhi publisher discusses where he thinks the Indian book market is headed in the coming year.
The Australian retailer Drymocks has launched a publishing arm.
Barbara Vey
For some reason I've been having a lot of nightmares lately. You know, the kind where when you wake up you don't know what's real and what's not....
Elizabeth Bluemle
Once in a while, I blog about book covers that drive me crazy because they are either overdone, mired in trend and cliché, or are impossible handsells. I figure it's time to celebrate some stando...
Rose Fox
Hotel shenanigans and plastic suburbia....
Adam Boretz
Our final piece in Publishers Weekly's Focus on Audio 2012 is a Q&A with comedian, actor, director, and writer Michael Showalter -- narrator of the audio edition of his memoir Mr. Funny Pants and...
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