Nancy Conescu will join Dutton Children’s as executive editor on July 6, reporting to president Lauri Hornik. Most recently she was senior editor at Little, Brown Children’s. Canada’s BookRiff Media has hired Rochelle Grayson as CEO. Most recently, she was president of digital media agency Work at Play. A spin-off developed by D&M Publishers, BookRiff “allows consumers to mix content from virtually any source–published books, websites, and their own files–to build custom compilations called Riffs.”
Archives for June 2010
Digital Announcements: S&S Serial Verticals; Chicago Meets Beck Demand, and More
Simon & Schuster has developed a program that uses non-fiction book content from their list to drive vertically-targeted consumer service websites. They have started with Tipsonhealthliving.com, Tipsonlifeandlive.com, and Tipsonhomeandstyle.com, and will follow with sites on other topics such as career & money and religion. The company says the sites were inspired by the success of content syndication partnerships that push articles derived from S&S books to partners including MSN and Yahoo!. S&S the syndication has “garnered millions of page views, generated high click-through rates and helped to increase sales levels of select titles” and the company “expects to enter into […]
eBook Numbers
We generally do not report on the AAP’s monthly numbers (or the Census Bureau’s monthly bookstore numbers) because they are so incomplete and idiosyncratic that they produce more confusion than clarity as far as we are concerned. (It leads to disconnects like today’s pairing from Shelf Awareness:) “AAP: April Sales Increase, Big Gain for Hardcovers”“Bookstore Sales Slip 5.1% in April, Flat for Year” But with the thirst for ebook data and general confusion about the changing landscape of business terms, lots of outlets are seizing on the monthly AAP ebook numbers. Year-on-year numbers are still increasing–April was up 127 percent […]
Rundle Claims Others at Penguin Knew About Davidar's "Behavior"
In Lisa Rundle’s legal filing against Penguin Canada and former president David Davidar, she also alleges that Davidar’s behavior was well-known within the publisher’s offices. Rundle’s action says that “colleagues would approach Lisa and inquire as to the reasons for his strange behavior during meetings.” It claims that the vp of business development and the business manager approached her “several times over the course of the three-year harassment.” The claim also says that Rundle “confided” in current publisher Nicole Winstanley (referred to as N.W. in the court papers) “for the final two years of the harassment” and Davidar’s executive assistant […]
Wiley and the Authors Guild: Still Going
In a brief statement yesterday, Wiley said that “after a useful and productive exchange of ideas, we concluded that the best way to proceed is to call each and every one” of the 117 Bloomberg Press authors “to make sure they understand the changes that we have proposed. If any of them are uncomfortable with our proposed changes, they can choose to retain their original Bloomberg contracts.” They noted that “Wiley shares a common objective with the Authors Guild, to treat authors well and fairly.”Wiley release In a follow-up e-mail to members, the Authors Guild says “this is progress, and […]
People, Etc.
Canada’s McClelland & Stewart announced job cuts and changes in responsibilities, with president Doug Pepper writing that “our publishing program needs to be even more focused” so that the company is “prepared to meet the challenges of the future.” Executive editor Dinah Forbes, who led their mystery/crime program, is leaving after more than 20 years with the company, and an editorial assistant and office manager were also laid off. Pepper writes, “In our more than 100 years as publishers, M&S often has had to adjust to the changes in the industry and the market by staying ahead of them. This […]