It’s hard to entertain sale offers for a company while investors await a ruling on corporate governance and worry whether a well-heeled activist shareholder is mounting a proxy fight to remove the founder and chairman from the board. With the threat of an imminent proxy fight filing looming, the Barnes & Noble board is reportedly close to finalizing a peace deal with Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa that would settle his lawsuit instead of leaving it to the judge in Delaware. The expected deal as reported by the WSJ (and then the NYT and others) would add three new directors to the […]
Archives for August 2010
Hamill in eOriginal; Hart in e and POD from Open Road
I didn’t realize Pete Hamill was the “patriarch of print,” but so says the paper of record in getting the first look at the announcement that at Little, Brown’s suggestion he will publish a short book on immigration in an ebook edition only this fall. Hamill has a September 16 deadline for the 40,000 to 50,000 word manusript for THEY ARE US. Little, Brown did not indicate pricing or a release date.NYT Separately, Open Road has released Jospehine Hart‘s DAMAGE and SIN as ebooks, and will follow shortly with on-demand paperbacks as well.
Legacy Books Partner Tanner Will Open “A Real Bookstore” In Mid-November
As she hinted when the closing on Legacy Books in Plano, TX was announced recently, managing partner Teri Tanner will open a new store, called A Real Bookstore, in nearby Fairview in mid-November. It’s billed as her vision for a “post-recession bookstore.” Though smaller and less flashy than Legacy, it will still have about 20,000 square feet, on a single level. The new location is in a more traditional shopping area, will face traffic directly, and is closer to where core customers live. Tanner, who will be the sole owner this time around, plans a big children’s section with dedicated […]
Center for Fiction Renames Prize, Announces Shortlist; Thurber Nominees Named
The Center for Fiction (previously the Mercantile Library) has changed the name of their first novel prize–originally the John Sargent Sr. prize when launched in 2006–to the Flaherty-Dunnan Prize, due to support from board member and writer Nancy Dunnan and honoring her late father Ray Flaherty, also a writer. The seven nominated debut novels are: Beneath the Lion’s Gaze, by Maaza MengisteThe Invisible Bridge, by Julie OrringerMatterhorn, by Karl MarlantesMr. Peanut, by Adam Ross The Quickening, by Michelle HooverThe Report, by Jessica Francis KaneThis is Just Exactly Like You, by Drew Perry In other awards news, the Thurber Prize for […]
New Team Approach Planned for Simon & Schuster
New S&S publisher Jonathan Karp iterated more changes internally today, setting out “a new publishing approach” in concert with staff discussions in which people “expressed a desire to embrace new ways of doing things.” In a scheme that may answer the question of how you take the focused publishing model of the Twelve imprint and apply it to a larger operation, in early 2011 S&S will reorganize into “small teams of editors, publicists, and marketing specialists.” Each team will comprise approximately two editors, two publicists and a marketing specialist. Karp writes that the teams “will propose, develop, and execute their […]
More Borders Cuts, This Time at Headquarters
After recently announced cuts of another 100 jobs at their Tennessee distribution center, Borders Group has cut staff again, returning to the rolls at their Ann Arbor headquarters. Spokesperson Mary Davis confirmed their were “job eliminations” to the Ann Arbor newspaper but declined to indicate a number. There have been approximately 650 people working out of the Ann Arbor offices, after 88 corporate workers were laid off in January. Davis said: “As we aggressively work to restore the financial health of the company, we have reorganized core areas of our business to ensure that we have the necessary resources in […]