At Random House, Cyrus Kheradi will become svp, director of international sales & marketing, reporting to Madeline McIntosh, starting March 8. He has been vp, group director of international sales at Simon & Schuster. McIntosh writes in a memo, “the international channel will be increasingly critical to Random House as we seek new markets for growth, and so I am very much looking forward to having someone with Cyrus’s deep experience and stellar global reputation lead us forward. Pam Roman has been named vp, director of sales, special markets, reporting to svp, children’s sales special markets and proprietary publishing Joan […]
Archives for February 2010
What's Next, and More Factoids
So what happens next in the Google case? Everyone waits for the judge, which could be weeks, or months. The outside boundary is likely the scheduling of his Senate confirmation hearing on his nomination to move up to the Court of Appeals. A couple more interesting statistics that were mentioned in the afternoon’s presentations. Michael Boni said that so far, “620,000 books that are out-of-print that we would call orphan works” have been claimed by 40,000 authors. While the effective monopoly over unclaimed works is an important issue in the case, Google may have defused that in part with this […]
Google Judge: "Both Sides Say the Answer Is Clear!"
Judge Denny Chin ended yesterday’s daylong hearing on the Google Books Settlement hearing the same way he started it, telling the audience, “I will reserve decision. There is a lot to think about.” Earlier in the afternoon the judge wryly uttered the line we quote in our headline, and it was the best and most concise summation of the day’s arguments. Alas this second account of the Google Olympics will be less whimsical than our first installment (you’ve been warned). For close watchers of the case, there’s little need or interest in rehashing the presentations of all those who spoke, […]
Simon & Schuster Finishes Down in 2009
Simon & Schuster had a weak finish to a difficult year, as sales fell over 20 percent in their fourth quarter ending December 31, down more than 10 percent (or $25 million) to $220 million, blamed on a “soft market.” For the full fiscal year, sales of $793.5 million were down 7.5 percent compared to a year ago. That sales number is also behind their 2007 sales (of $886 million) and 2006 sales (of $807 million). Profits fells further, with adjusted OIBDA of just $13.6 million this quarter, less than half of last year’s earnings of $28.3 million. For the […]
Judge Chin Regrets He's Unable to Rule Today
The long-awaited Google Books Settlement hearing is underway today in the New York courtroom of Judge Denny Chin as he tries to clear his docket before moving up to the Court of Appeals. For any who might have brought unrealistic hopes of an immediate answer, though, Judge Chin started the morning by telling the court, “I’m not going to rule today, there’s too much to digest.” He added, “I have an open mind.” But during the morning’s presentations, Chin’s questions made it clear that he is quite familiar with the stacks of briefs already filed. He repeated the same lament […]
People and More
Rebecca Sears has joined Oxford University Pressas editor for the Grove Art/Oxford Art Online program. She was formerly at Art on Paper magazine, and the Yossi Milo Gallery in New York. Macmillan president Brian Napack has joined the board of LibreDigital. Canadian book publishing pioneer Georges Laberge passed away on Saturday, 78, after a long battle with cancer. He developed the Garneau bookstores, a network of French language bookstores in Canada, created the first National Book Week, and acquired the distribution company that became Diffulivre, which then founded the publishing house Ãditions du Trécarré. Laberge obit Amazing People Club, available […]