B&N's Quamut Lures Publishers, Takes on About.com - 4/7/2008 - Publishers Weekly - 0 views
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ut, Weiss said, “We’re hoping to catch up and replace [About] in as many categories as we can.” He also said Quamut offers publishers opportunities to revive backlist titles through licensing deals. The company has purchased content from Globe Pequot on fly fishing and from TFH Publications on pet care.
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About, said its writers are “journalists and professionals.” The company trusts its writers to post content before it is reviewed by About’s editorial staff. Health information is the exception; a medical review board examines content before it is published. But everything else is created on a “publish-first model,” said Daecher, with writers “fact-checking themselves.”
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Christopher Reggio, book publisher at TFH, said Quamut initiated the licensing deal. TFH created some content exclusively for Quamut, while other material came from its existing titles. It has already supplied Quamut with 50 articles and is in the process of providing 50 more. Now that the site has officially launched, Reggio is hoping that links to other TFH books for sale at BN.com will result in book sales. Weiss expects Quamut to drive traffic to BN.com and to boost book sales.
