5/15/13
Something Borrowed
Publisher Sourcebooks and e-book library distributor Overdrive are kicking off a two-week pilot program May 15 to try to determine the impact of library e-book lending on authors’ overall sales.
Overdrive’s 35,000 library clients worldwide will be offered the option to feature a Sourcebooks title, Michael Malone’s The Four Corners of the Sky, on their e-book lending homepage at no cost to the library. Overdrive will then track “how many patrons sampled the book, how many checked it out, how many pages were read, and will invite patrons to follow Malone on Facebook and Twitter in order to see how the pilot impacts the author’s social media presence,” the companies said.
At the same time, Sourcebooks will monitor sales of the title, along with those of seven other titles Malone has published through Sourcebooks.
The companies, which believe e-book lending benefits authors overall, will present their findings at Book Expo America in June.
Four Colors, Four Stories, For Fans
Dark Horse will release a 64-page comic this year based on popular computer game EVE Online. In a break from traditional (licensed) comic book tie-ins, fans of the game series are invited to submit stories for the comic book, with four winning ideas to be featured in the final work.
EVE owner CCP also plans on working with Icelandic filmmaker Baltasar Kormakur to bring a similar crowd-sourcing approach to an EVE TV series in the near future.
The Force Is With EA
Electronic Arts has locked up a multiyear deal with Disney to produce Star Wars games for all platforms. The deal comes one month after Disney laid off most of the production and development staff at LucasArts, which previously was responsible for developing games for the franchise.
New games will be based on Star Wars characters and storylines for what the companies call “a core gaming audience” (i.e., men in their 30s). Disney retains rights to develop games for the mobile, social, tablet and online categories aimed at younger gamers.
The first games from EA are expected to be ready sometime in 2015, around the time the next Star Wars movie is slated to debut.
Reader’s Digest Licenses Overseas Operators
The Reader’s Digest Association Inc. this month announced that it has licensed its operations in France, Belgium, and the Nordic region to SAPE and in Poland, Romania, and Hungary to Tarsago Media Group.
The deal comes as Reader’s Digest is emerging from bankruptcy in the U.S. In a statement, RDA said the licensing deals “will provide the Company with steady revenue streams and enable us to maintain our global footprint without the costs associated with running these businesses. In addition, both of our licensees are excellent strategic partners for Reader’s Digest and know our business well.”
Yahoo Kicking Hulu’s Tires
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer recently met with top executives at Hulu, the online video portal that may or may not be on the block, according to several published reports.
Hulu’s current owners, Fox Broadcasting-parent News Corp. and Disney’s ABC network, have been mulling over what to do with Hulu for months but have not formally said it’s for sale (a third owner, Comcast/NBC, is barred from participating in strategic decisions regarding Hulu under the terms of its merger imposed by the FCC).
Others who have expressed interest in the video site include former News Corp. COO Peter Chernin and Amazon. Yahoo has been on something of an acquisition binge since Mayer took over last year, but a deal for Hulu would be her biggest yet.
Aereo Combat Continues
The legal fight between broadcasters and video streaming startup Aereo took an unexpected twist this month when Aereo filed a motion with the district court in New York hearing the case asking it to bar CBS and other plaintiffs from filing similar suits in other jurisdictions.
The move came after CBS officials threatened to sue Aereo in Boston and other markets as it seeks to expand beyond New York City.
The networks have twice failed to persuade courts in New York to impose an injunction on Aereo. In its latest filing, Aereo said the plaintiffs are not entitled to “a do-over” in other jurisdictions just because they don’t like the results in New York.
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