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Tag: Random House

  • ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ publishing partner wins lawsuit

    ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ publishing partner wins lawsuit

    MUMBAI: In a verdict with blockbuster implications, a jury in the case of Pedroza vs. Hayward and TWCS Operations Proprietary awarded a victory to Jennifer Lynn Pedroza in a dispute over royalty rights for the publishing phenomenon Fifty Shades of Grey. The jury’s verdict was announced by Pendroza’s attorneys at Vincent Lopez Serafino Jenevein, PC. 

     

    The original publisher of the trio of books was The Writer’s Coffee Shop, an independent publisher of e-books and print-on-demand books. The plaintiff, Jennifer Pedroza was one of four original partners in the start-up company that published Fifty Shades of Grey. The Writer’s Coffee Shop eventually sold the publishing rights to the books to Random House. 

     

    The verdict has confirmed that Jennifer Pedroza was a partner in The Writer’s Coffee Shop. The jury determined that fraud had been committed by Amanda Hayward and TWCS Operations Proprietary when they induced Pedroza into a Service Agreement, and also deprived her of her share of one of the most successful book deals in history. To date Fifty Shades of Grey has sold more than 100 million copies and is currently on the New York Times best seller list. 

     

    Damages will be assessed at a later court hearing after a forensic audit determines Pedroza’s appropriate share of royalties. Pedroza was represented by the Dallas law firm of Vincent Lopez Serafino Jenevein, PC.

  • ‘Young Turks’ to inspire next-gen entrepreneurs

    ‘Young Turks’ to inspire next-gen entrepreneurs

    MUMBAI: Young Turks is not only one of the most popular shows but also has been one of the longest running shows on Indian business news channel CNBC-TV18. It is hosted by the channel’s managing editor Shereen Bhan who recently launched a book commemorating 13 years of the show by the same name- Young Turks: Inspiring Stories of Tech Entrepreneurs.

    Talking about the long running stint of the show Bhan says, “For 13 years we have interviewed close to 2000 people who have displayed new ideas through their entrepreneurship, received legitimate funding from different sources and are showing positive signs of sizeable revenues.”

    She informs that as she did not have a compelling story to tell, she decided to narrate the encouraging tales of 13 tech entrepreneurs like Red Bus’ Phanindra Sama and Charan Padmaraju and shopping portal Flipkart’s Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal among others. The book has been co-authored by Syna Dehnugara. “Through our long conversations we tried compiling up the stories on the entrepreneurs. We wanted to narrate their story from their eyes rather than just our opinions,” she adds.

    Published by Random House, Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy launched the book in New Delhi. As to the book’s focus on just tech entrepreneurs, Bhan says, “We wanted the book to have a diverse range of stories but decided to focus on tech entrepreneurs as these companies have shown a certain amount of scale and feedback in terms of business growth and revenues. We also reached out to investors and industry experts to find out how well these companies were performing and then zeroed down on the final tally.”

    Bhan’s compelling reasons for someone to pick the book are: “Firstly this is for those who are mostly interested in business.  Secondly there will be many people who want to start one on their own but would not have a clear sense of idea how to go about. This book showcases how first gen entrepreneurs who without a very large bank balance and in the absence of a business background started their companies. Thirdly, the book contains exciting stories of how the founders of these start ups were prisoners of circumstances but managed to outgrow themselves due to their optimism and the fact that they wanted to live their dream.”

    According to her, reading books exposes an individual to opportunities and insights as it broadens one’s thinking horizon. She also feels that today it is far easier to publish a book and an exciting time for the industry as young students are reading books of diverse genres.

    On her favourite books, she says, “I enjoy reading books by Rohinton Mistry. My personal favourite is his book A Fine Balance. I also enjoy reading autobiographies such as that of Vinod Mehta and Warren Buffet.”

    The choice to put Bhan as the face of the book was that of the publishers who also provided the option of publishing the title as a series but for now decided to stick to just one edition of the 304 page book. The marketing for the book is being done by the publishers while the news presenter and her team are promoting it on the show and on social media.

    The kindle edition of the book has been priced at Rs 380 on Amazon. On Flipkart, the hardcover edition is priced at Rs. 447 while the e-book is priced at Rs 380.

     

  • Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products appoints Brian Offutt as SVP entertainment products

    Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products appoints Brian Offutt as SVP entertainment products

    MUMBAI: Brian Offutt, the former head of Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products’ (NVCP) Los Angeles office, has relocated to New York to oversee the NVCP home entertainment, publishing, and record business. The announcement was made by NVCP president, Leigh Anne Brodsky, to whom he will continue to report.

    Offutt replaces Stephen Youngwood, who last month became executive vice president, digital media, at Nickelodeon.

    In his new role as senior vice president, entertainment products, Offutt has been charged with managing the home video/DVD, publishing and music businesses for Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Noggin, and The N, as well as the home video/DVD, book publishing and videogame businesses for Comedy Central, Spike TV and TV Land and the book publishing business for Paramount — all networks and the movie studio within the Viacom family that are handled for licensing and merchandising by NVCP.

    Specifically, he will oversee a staff that manages relationships with Paramount Home Entertainment that distributes all NVCP home videos; Nick Records, which has been in partnership with Sony BMG Strategic Marketing Group since 2004; and the publishing group, with partners including Simon & Schuster and Random House.

    “Brian Offutt has been an integral part of Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products for the past year, setting up our licensing and merchandising team within Paramount Pictures and bringing to market such successful product as the Godfather videogame. He brings to his new position a keen understanding of both the entertainment and merchandising businesses to further develop our content-driven businesses,” said Brodsky.

    Before joining NVCP in January 2005, Offutt was chief operating officer of Broadway Video Entertainment, a leading independent television and film production company founded by Lorne Michaels. In that position, he was directly responsible for the company’s post-production business unit, whose clients included CBS Sports, Showtime and MTV Networks.

    Prior to Broadway Video, Offutt was president and COO of Interdimensions, an online technology and interactive solutions company. He also served as senior vice president of Golden Books, an executive recruiter at Spencer Stuart and an investment banking analyst at JP Morgan.

    Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products manages the third largest licensing business in the world and such properties as SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer. The department handles the merchandising for Nick Jr., Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, Comedy Central, MTVN International, and Spike TV.