Beginning this fall, S&S and Time Warner will make most of their new books available electronically - an expansion of the market that Time Warner Trade Publishing topper Larry Kirschbaum said would lead to a hike in revenues industrywide, from 5%-6% annual margins to double-digit margins in just five years.Īlso on the roster Tuesday was an announcement that Microsoft had struck an agreement with the Assn. The ranks of bestselling authors who’ve seen their books digitized is steadily growing, with recent books by Robert Ludlum, Jackie Collins, Joe Ezsterhas and Scott Turow available soon if not now. A division of the Web retail site exclusively dedicated to e-books, it will immediately begin selling a huge array of e-books, including a new series of “Star Trek” titles from Simon & Schuster’s Pocket imprint published solely in an electronic format. But publishers continued to flood the burgeoning e-book market with bestsellers Tuesday, spurred on by the release of more sophisticated software from Microsoft and the opening of a new sales venue, the Barnes & eBookstore.Īt a joint press conference Tuesday, Microsoft demonstrated its new Microsoft Reader for desktop PCs and laptops - an application whose simple display, wide margins and bookmarking and page-turning functions are meant to simulate the experience of reading a book printed on paper.īarnes & prexy Steve Riggio declared the company’s e-bookstore open for business Tuesday. READERS SHOW FEW SIGNS of ditching old reading habits and forsaking bound books in noticeable numbers. It plans to option a play and even a song.Įzflix senior veep Robert Green brought “Etiquette” to the company. Writers & Artists agent Angela Cheng, who reps the authors with Betsy Amster of the Betsy Amster Literary Agency, said more and more of her books have been optioned in Web deals, and ezflix’s Wachtel said the company’s quest for content won’t stop there. Though Landscape has a wide range of material in development, including projects with Larry Gelbart and David Cronenberg, “Etiquette” is the first book to be optioned by the company for adaptation on the Web, which may serve as a destination for more and more books as the medium evolves. Wachtel said ezflix is also in active talks with high-profile film and TV writers, and is seeking major talent to join the project. Unlike the typical option package, the five-figure deal included stock options for authors, and guaranteed production and writing credits. The company’s idea is to produce four- to five-minute Webisodes based on chapters from the book: “What’s the proper attire for your first day in court,” for example, or “Should you always disclose to your partner that you’ve taken Viagra.” “I describe it as situation ethics, how to behave appropriately in inappropriate situations” said Jeff Wachtel, head of programming at ezflix. The book is “Etiquette for Outlaws” by Rob Cohen and David Wollock. Publishers are sure to take notice when agent Henry Morrison, who negotiated the deal with Rudin, shops the book in New York later this week.ĪN ETIQUETTE GUIDE CHARACTERIZED by its authors as “Emily Post Meets Howard Stern” is the subject of an unorthodox Web, film and TV deal from ezflix, the Internet arm of Bob Cooper’s new company, Landscape Entertainment. “Dangerous Behavior,” which has been compared to the Richard Gere film “Primal Fear,” marks a return to more topical themes. He shares credit for the famous 1964 Broadway flop, “Bajour” and is writing a musical about Josephine Baker. Marks has a long and eclectic show business track record, having co-authored the screenplay for and scored the 1975 Merchant/Ivory film, “The Wild Party,” roughly based on the life of Fatty Arbuckle.
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