At William Morrow, Peter Hubbard has been promoted to senior editor. At Touchstone, Lauren Spiegel has been promoted to associate editor. In the Eataly food and wine center opening at the end of August in the former Toy Building on lower Fifth Avenue in New York, led by Lidia and Joseph Bastianich and Mario Batali, Rizzoli Bookstore will be the exclusive bookseller. They will also manage book signings by chefs giving classes and demonstrations in the space. Tyrus Books, founded last year, announced that they are acquiring fellow crime fiction publisher Busted Flush Press. Busted Flush publisher David Thompson “will […]
Archives for August 2010
Wylie’s Odyssey: Behind the Deal and Across the Business
Following yesterday’s announcement of the resolution of the dispute between Random House and The Wylie Agency over the electronic rights to 13 titles published by Andrew Wylie’s start-up Odyssey Editions (see below for the full text), the publisher has said publicly that the Wylie Agency was not offered preferential terms and the deal is “consistent with agreement we’ve reached with other literary agencies for other backlist e-book rights.” And indeed, sources confirm to us that the royalty rates agreed to between Random House and the Wylie agency are no greater than what the publisher has agreed to for other titles […]
This Time Borders Hires, and More
Borders has hired Michele Delahunty-Cloutier as evp, chief merchandising officer, overseeing merchandising, marketing and supply chain and reporting to Mike Edwards. Most recently she was brand president for Chico’s FAS, and she had been svp, general merchandise manager for Ann Taylor Stores. Borders has also named Eric Kovats regional vp for the Southeast and Beatrice Vicente as regional vp for the West Coast. Kovats was regional vp at Stores for Heartland Automotive Services, “the largest franchisee of Jiffy Lube Stores in the country.” In other personnel news, at Crown, Rachel Berkowitz has been promoted to manager, foreign rights, and Nidhi […]
Random House Tames The Jackalope; Wylie Drops Amazon Titles
The company released this statement from ceo Markus Dohle on Tuesday afternoon: “We are pleased to announce that The Wylie Agency and Random House have resolved our differences over the disputed Random House titles which have been included in the Odyssey Editions e-book publishing program. These titles are being removed from that program and taken off-sale. “We have agreed that Random House shall be the exclusive e-book publisher of these titles for those territories in which Random House U.S. controls their rights. The titles soon will be available for sale on a non-exclusive basis through all of Random House’s current e-book customers. Random House is resuming normal business […]
Legal Costs Add to Barnes & Noble’s Losses, As Bookstore Comps Are Nearly Flat
Barnes & Noble reported first quarter sales of $1.397 billion, with a net loss of $62.5 million or $1.12 per share–at the high end of the company’s forecast losses, but more than analysts had penciled in as we reported yesterday. Among the expenses were $9.5 million (or 11 cents a share) “primarily” due to the legal battle in Delaware with Yucaipa. The company declined to discuss the proxy battle in this morning’s conference call with investors following the earnings release. Because of those legal costs and the proxy fight underway, the company lowered its full-year earnings forecast by 25 cents […]
Borders CFO Mark Bierley Leaves for a Better Job, and More People News
Borders had just promoted chief financial officer Mark Bierley to the added position of chief operating officer of Borders Inc. in June and bumped his salary up to $600,000 in late June but he has resigned “to pursue another employment opportunity.” VP Glen Tomaszewski will serve as interim CFO while the company searches for a replacement. Penguin USA president Susan Petersen Kennedy will take over as chair of the AAP Trade Publishers Executive Committee. At Random House Children’s, Meika Hashimoto has been promoted to assistant editor, working on Golden/Disney projects. (Additionally, her middle grade novel THE MAGIC CAKE SHOP has […]