Daily book biz round-up: Amazon’s best books of 2010; Bush memoir bores; and more

Today’s book news:

• Amazon announces the best books of 2010
• Despite tantalizing embargo, Bush memoir yields little of interest
• Mordecai Richler’s widow takes in film adaptation of Barney’s Version
• Sales down at Harlequin
• Stop the madness! Author plans to write 24 three-day novels in a year
• We missed this last week: Leanne Shapton’s Native Trees of Canada sketchbook

Daily book biz round-up: Neil Gaiman’s Spawn; library books with mayo; and more

News bites:

• Publishers call new Amazon “Levels of Service” plan “extortion”
• Harlequin signs deal with Russian publisher
• Little, Brown launches new imprint: Mulholland Drive
• In hopes of landing lucrative legal settlement, Neil Gaiman admits to creating terrible Spawn characters
• Woman arrested for spreading mayonnaise, corn syrup, other substances on library books

Harlequin launches digital-only Carina Press

Carina Press, a new digital-only Harlequin Enterprises imprint, officially launched today by releasing 10 titles. Carina will publish 37 books, which will cost between $2.99 and $6.99, in its first month. The books will be sold directly to consumers through Carina’s website and through retailers such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Harlequin CEO and publisher Donna Hayes stated in a press release: “As a digital-first publisher, Carina Press is a natural extension to our business. It gives us greater flexibility in the type of editorial we can accept from authors and offer to readers.”

Harlequin tries for some online love with digital publishing venture

Harlequin Enterprises, best known as a publisher of romance novels in the traditional “dead tree” format, has just launched an online publishing house, Carina Press. According to the Carina home page, the new venture will focus on romance novels but “will also acquire voices in mystery, suspense and thrillers, science fiction, fantasy, erotica, gay/lesbian, and more.” An inaugural blog post on the site provides a kind of mission statement for Carina: “There are hundreds of fantastic stories out there that for one reason or another don’t yet have a home. Our intent is to give them one and provide the authors behind them with opportunities to play an active role in this exciting and ever-changing digital space.”

Indeed, a quick scan of the Carina site indicates that authors will be required to play a very active role in promoting their books: the FAQs page says that authors “have more control over [their] own brand” in the digital arena and that Carina will provide the tools to help authors begin “self-promoting in the digital space.”

Additionally, Carina authors will not be paid an advance, but instead will be “compensated with a higher royalty.” And Carina does not offer digital rights management to prevent authors’ work being copied or downloaded illegally.

According to a Harlequin press release, Carina books will be sold directly to consumers via its own website and various third party websites. The release continues:

“As a digital-only publisher Carina Press is a natural extension to our business; it builds on our digital strength and leadership position. We expect to discover new authors and unique voices that may not be able to find homes in traditional publishing houses,” said Donna Hayes, CEO and Publisher of Harlequin Enterprises. “It definitely gives us greater flexibility in the type of editorial we can accept from authors and offer to readers.”

Angela James, described in the press release as “a well-known advocate for digital publishing,” has been named executive editor of Carina. The “press’s” first books are expected to appear online in spring 2010.

Richard Poplak and more in the May Q&Q

Jet-setting author Richard Poplak travelled to 17 different countries to research his latest book, which looks at the influence of American pop culture in the Muslim world, and he’s Q&Q’s cover subject in the May 2009 issue. Also in the issue, we look at the surprising success of Harlequin Enterprises at 60 and at how print-on-demand is changing the bookstore of the future. Our Library Special Report examines the tricky task of putting Canada’s archival history online. Plus reviews of new books by Colin McAdam, Emily Schultz, Giles Blunt, Lynn Johnston, Barry Callaghan, and more.

Pop goes the world
Richard Poplak bets that tawdry TV and banal bubblegum can bring cultures together

Print-on-demand: The dream and the reality
The bookstore of the future, and why POD machines are waiting for books in the present

Love wins out
While other major publishers are bleeding money, Harlequin Enterprises is raking it in. How the firm has managed to beat the odds

History, bit by bit
What’s the best way to put our national heritage online?
AND MORE IN THE LIBRARY SPECIAL REPORT: Coping with rising patron demand, and learning to LOL at the reference desk

FRONTMATTER

• Ninety minutes with Stuart Ross
• Comedy is easy, kidlit is hard
• The adventures of Pierre Turgeon: a timeline
• Cover to Cover: Lauren Kirshner’s Where We Have to Go
• Snapshot: Alexandra Moore of Word on the Street
• Breakwater unbroken
• David Bezmozgis moves from control to collaboration

REVIEWS

• Heaven Is Small by Emily Schultz
• Though You Were Dead by Terry Griggs
• The English Stories by Cynthia Flood
• Plus more fiction, non-fiction, and poetry

BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

• Dance Baby Dance by Andrea Spalding
• Dracula Madness by Mary Labatt and Jo Rioux
• Soccer Sabotage by Liam O’Donnell and Mike Deas
• Swim the Fly by Don Calame
• Plus more fiction, non-fiction, and picture books

THE Q&Q/BOOKNET CANADA BESTSELLERS

THE LAST WORD
Lesley Choyce does the math on three decades in writing

Harlequin rakes in cash for ailing Torstar

Harlequin parent company Torstar has just released its fourth-quarter results for 2008, and things look pretty bad: the company lost $211.2-million during the period, mostly via its stake in CTV/Globemedia. The one bright spot for the company, however, was Harlequin, which reported an 11.2% increase in profits. Accordingly, Torstar president Robert Prichard was full of praise for the romance publisher in the Q4 press release, saying:

We are very pleased with Harlequin’s performance and prospects. We expect continuing stable results building on the success and growth of the last three years. Overall, we anticipate Harlequin will deliver a fourth good year in a row. Harlequin’s results have held up well to date despite the recession.

Overall annual revenue for Harlequin was $473-million for 2008, a $9-million increase over 2007. Retail sales were up $13.3-million, direct-to-consumer sales were down $6.4-million, and overseas sales were up $2.7-million.

Harlequin announces mass layoffs

In a terse press release, Harlequin parent company Torstar has announced plans for laying off 4% of the workforce at the multinational romance publisher. Says the release: “Torstar expects that the restructuring charge will be approximately $2.5 million. The savings associated with this initiative are expected to be in the range of $3 million annually.” And that’s pretty much it for information; both Torstar executive David Holland and Harlequin CEO Donna Hayes are away until the end of the week. (Watch Q&Q Omni in the future for details about the layoffs.) With Harlequin’s heavy international reach, the firm has been hit hard by the surging value of the Canadian dollar. In second-quarter results released in August, Harlequin reported a $17-million drop in revenue from the same period last year, which it attributed to “currency movements.”

Related links:
Click here for the Torstar release
Click here for a Q&Q Omni item on Harlequin’s most recent quarterly results