Seattlepi.com chief Michelle Nicolosi resigns to launch new electronic book publishing firm

Michelle Nicolosi

Michelle Nicolosi, who led the charge for the SeattlePI.com after Hearst Corp. shut down the physical newspaper operations in March 2009, has resigned from the company to start a new electronic book publishing business by the name of Working Press. Her last day at SeattlePI.com will be January 20th. Working Press plans to “edit, format,… Read More…

As Amazon threat mounts, Barnes & Noble expands beyond books online

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Barnes & Noble typically conjures images of books, calendars, CDs and other published items. But the retailer is looking to broaden that base, adding more than one million new products to its online marketplace at BN.com. That includes cooking utensils, digital cameras and, yes, even baby strollers. The company has partnered with more than 20… Read More…

Madrona, Amazon and others pump $10 million into online ad analyzer Yieldex

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Madrona Venture Group and Amazon.com are among the backers in a $10 million round for Yieldex, a New York-based company that helps online publishers increase revenue by providing inventory analysis, forecasting and pricing. New investors in the round include Triangle Peak Partners and Hearst Interactive Media, the digital arm of the New York publishing giant. Total… Read More…

Amazon Publishing inks deal with best-selling author Timothy Ferriss

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Timothy Ferriss, the best-selling author of the 4-Hour Workweek and The 4-Hour Body, has chosen Amazon.com to publish his upcoming book titled The 4-Hour Chef. It is a big win for the Seattle online retailer, which has been rapidly expanding its publishing arm this year. The book — described as a way to transform the… Read More…

Introducing Smile Tagging: A new social media ‘brand experiment’ from Kraft and Cheezburger

New smile buttons will appear on Cheezburger posts

Sharing on Facebook and Twitter was so two months ago. Now, get ready for “smile tagging” — courtesy of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and the folks at Cheezburger Network. Beginning Thursday, a new “smile tag” button will be added right next to the Tweet and Facebook Like buttons on Cheezburger’s network of comedy sites. What’s smile… Read More…

Tina Brown of The Daily Beast roars into Seattle

Tina Brown makes a rare Seattle appearance

Seattle’s digerati turned out in full force at The Bagley and Virginia Wright Gallery Sunday night to hobnob with Tina Brown, the legendary former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. Brown was in town to promote her latest and, perhaps, most ambitious media experiment to date: merging an old-media brand (Newsweek) with a… Read More…

Plot thickens for Amazon with new “Thomas & Mercer” mysteries and thrillers

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Amazon.com is clearly having a lot of fun naming the brands that it’s using to expand further into the world of publishing books. Two weeks ago, the company launched “Montlake Romance,” named after the Seattle neighborhood. And the latest, announced this morning, will publish mysteries and thrillers under the name Thomas & Mercer — the… Read More…