Tronc, the company formerly known as Tribune Publishing, announced today that it now owns a majority stake in BestReviews, which publishes in-depth reviews of consumer products. In another announcement today, Tronc said that it intends to use fun…
View More Tronc starts its new digital strategy with a majority stake in product review site BestReviewsCategory: Publishing
Inside Joymode: a subscription service saving you from buying all of the things
What began as a movement among couture culturati with the success of Rent the Runway has moved into everything from cars (Porsche’s got a subscription service ) to construction equipment and furniture.
Well, the Los Angeles-based startup Joymode has just raised $14 million to be the subscription service for nearly everything else. Read More
Print book sales rose 1.9% in 2017
In what amounts to faint praise for the strength physical book NPD reported that print book sales rose 1.9 percent in 2017, less than the 3 percent growth posted in 2013-2016. NPD tracks book sales in the US. They write: “Returning from the huge sales of ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ in 2016, and the rise of adult coloring books, last year’s book sales growth was… Read More
Amazon reveals top 20 city candidates for its second HQ
Amazon has reviewed the proposals from potential candidate cities for its second North American headquarters location, and it found 20 of those the most promising. The mayors of these top 20 cities will now fight to the death in a Battle Royale-style island arena… er wait, no actually they’ll just move on the next portion of Amazon’s submission phase, which includes… Read More
Farewell, unpaid blogger: HuffPost drops free contributor platform that drove its growth
As the US media, tech world and the powers that be in Washington continue to try to figure out how to tackle things like fake news, the level of discourse, and how to keep the business of publishing from falling off a virtual cliff, one of the media properties that has been instrumental in influencing how news is framed online is making a big change. HuffPost in the US today announced that it… Read More
Google is fixing an error that led to smaller sites disappearing from Google News
PSA: If you are a smaller news site that has suddenly discovered that you’ve been removed from Google News, you are not alone, and a fix is coming from Google. Backstory: Over the past couple of days, a number of smaller websites were finding that they had been delisted from Google News pages, without explanation. One site founder brought it to our attention to investigate after… Read More
Amazon’s latest Echos show the smart home space hitting its stride
Amazon’s Echo lineup got a refresh earlier this year that included a brand new version of its basic Echo, well as an Echo Plus with integrated smart home hub, and the stalwart Echo Dot – unchanged, but still a compelling device at its price point. The new lineup of devices also made its way to more markets this year, including an expansion to Canada just this month, which is why I… Read More
Meredith to buy Time with help from the Koch brothers, but says they won’t have any influence
It’s official—Meredith Corporation will buy Time Inc. in an all-cash transaction valued at $2.8 billion. Meredith said today it agreed to pay $18.50 per share for all outstanding shares of Time Inc. As reported earlier this month by the New York Times, the deal, which is slated to close in the first quarter of next year, includes equity financing from the billionaire Koch brothers,… Read More
Mashable reportedly selling to Ziff Davis for about $50 million
Tech site Mashable is being sold to publishing giant Ziff Davis, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal. The website, which focuses on tech and tech-related stories and has been publishing since 2005, will sell to Ziff Davis for a…
View More Mashable reportedly selling to Ziff Davis for about $50 millionAmazon brings Echo and Alexa to Canada
Amazon has finally brought its line of Alexa-powered Echo speakers to Canada. The release of Echo hardware has been long awaited by America’s northern neighbor, which could only watch and wait as Echo went through two generations in the U.S. Echo Dot, the second generation Echo and the Echo Plus with integrated smart home hub are all on sale in Canada as of today, compete with full… Read More
Pronoun, an ebook service for writers, shuts down
Pronoun, a self-publishing service for authors, is shutting down after promising free ebook distribution for authors. The company, which raised millions in funding and ended up being sold to Macmillan announced the shutdown in an email to authors…
View More Pronoun, an ebook service for writers, shuts downTencent’s online publishing arm set to raise $1B in Hong Kong IPO
Tencent’s China Literature, an Amazon-like e-book business, is continuing the trend of Asian tech IPOs after it announced its public listing in Hong Kong will raise $1.06 billion on Wednesday. The company set the price for its 151,371,800 share offering at HK$55, the top end of its range, and it could sell an additional 22.7 million through a greenshoe option with underwriters. The… Read More