BTW News Briefs

Kirkus to Award Three $50,000 Prizes for Literature

Kirkus Reviews announced on Wednesday the creation of three new literary prizes — for fiction, nonfiction, and young readers’ literature — that will award $50,000 to the winner in each category. Books with publication dates between October 1, 2013, and September 30, 2014, that have received a starred review from Kirkus will be automatically entered into consideration for the first round of prizes, the New York Times reported.

Kirkus Media President and Publisher Marc Winkelman said the company was introducing the prize to celebrate both a more stable publishing industry and Kirkus’s own good fortune.

Since its acquisition by Winkleman and Herb Simon in 2010, Kirkus Reviews has increased its circulation by 257 percent, to 5,000, the company said in a statement, and its website, kirkusreviews.com, has experienced “exponential growth.” Kirkus has also made money by adding a division that reviews self-published novels for a fee.

Above the Treeline Introduces Edelweiss Print Catalog Options

Ingram Content Group and Above the Treeline announced on Wednesday that Ingram will power new print-on-demand catalog solutions for Edelweiss, Above the Treeline’s interactive publisher catalog system. 

“Our publishing and bookselling customers, just like readers worldwide, have format preferences in how they create, discover, acquire and consume content,” said Above the Treeline CEO John Rubin.  “It is both a physical and digital world, and through our collaborative work with Ingram, publishers will have a simple and flexible way to develop and distribute print and e-catalogs from Edelweiss.”

Using a network of content manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and U.K., catalogs created on Edelweiss will be printed and shipped from the Ingram facility that is closest to the consumer, providing cost and time savings.  Physical catalog solutions from Edelweiss are expected to launch in summer 2014. 

Rowman & Littlefield Purchases Globe Pequot Press

Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group of Lanham, Maryland, is purchasing Globe Pequot Press from Morris Communications Company, Herald-Mail Media reported. National Book Network, the U.S. distribution subsidiary of Rowman & Littlefield, will sell and distribute Globe Pequot’s titles beginning in late summer or early fall.

Rowman & Littlefield will continue to operate two offices in Connecticut and Montana but will depart the Morris distribution facility in Tennessee at the end of the summer; those functions will be moved to Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania, where Globe Pequot operates.

IPG Signs Eight Publishers

Independent Publishers Group has announced new partnerships with eight publishers, including Racing Post Books, which will be distributed by Trafalgar Square beginning January 1, 2015.

The seven other publishers to be distributed by IPG are:

• Charlie Girl & Co., the children’s book publisher of Charlie Girl; distribution begins July 1.
• Pitchstone Publishing, a Virginia publisher of books aimed at helping make sense of the human condition; distribution begins July 1.
• The Popular Book Company (Canada) Ltd., which publishes learning materials for preschool and elementary school children; distribution begins for backlist titles in July and for frontlist in April 2015.
• Dry Climate Studios, publisher of a range of titles including regional children’s hardcovers; distribution begins August 1.
• Tuva Publishing, based in Istanbul, Turkey, publishes how-to books and magazines; distribution begins September 1.
• Rosarium Publishing, a publisher of novels, anthologies, graphic novels, and comics; distribution begins September 1.
• The Wine Appreciation Guild creates wine educational materials, accessories, and storage; distribution begins September 1.