Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Quarto Buys Ivy Press; Kindle Scout Launch List;

Publishers Lunch

Quarto Publishing has agreed to acquire The Ivy Press for up to £1.3 million plus the assumption of up to £200,000 of debt, pending approval from the press's lender. The unit will become part of Quarto's international co-editions division. Founded in 1996, Ivy Press has been distributed by Thames & Hudson since 2012. Co-founder and co-owner Jenny Manstead used to work for Quarto, and is married to one of Quarto's non executive directors, Bob Morley. Manstead says, "This is exactly the right move for Ivy at the right time. Becoming part of Quarto gives us a solid, secure platform from which to develop our publishing program with the right resources and the right support."


The first 10 titles from Amazon's Kindle Scout program, the company's crowdsourced publishing platform, will be available on March 3 under the Kindle Press banner. They include four thrillers as well as two science fiction titles, along with romances and mystery fiction. Twenty-one titles have been selected for publication so far. As of today, the initiative is open to contemporary fiction, historical fiction, and action & adventure submissions as well.

The AAP announced the program for their annual meeting in New York on March 18, which includes Irshad Manji and Cornel West on Diversity and Free Expression, and David Brooks on Authors & Publishers in a Democratic Society.

Poets & Writers has released a free mobile app that lists local literary events across the country. It was created in part with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Children's graphic novel publisher Papercutz has struck a first-look deal with Nickelodeon, giving them the first option to adapt new Nickelodeon original properties into comics and graphic novels. Nickelodeon's vp of domestic publishing Linda Lee says in the announcement, "Papercutz's strong track record with licensed properties for kids made them our ideal choice for a publishing partner. As we grow our stable of original animated properties, we wanted to work with a company that could reach the broadest possible audience."

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