In the latest personnel change at the Simon & Schuster imprint–which announced a hiring earlier this week–editor Sarah Hochman abruptly told people yesterday via e-mail that she was leaving the company at the end of the day. Others at S&S say she was fired, but the company declined to confirm that. She can be reached at sahochman@gmail.com. Elsewhere at S&S, Anne Rogers has been hired as director, specialty wholesale and mail order. She was a director in special sales at Sterling. Jeff Gerecke has left the Gina Maccoby Literary Agency after 5 years there to start the G Agency, and […]
Archives for August 2010
Riggio Converts Shares at Above-Market Price
What a fascinating world we live in. While people who don’t understand the publishing business continue a steady stream of columns concluding the bookstores that sell 92 percent of trade books are done for–James Stewart because he buys from Amazon and his “hunch is that B&N never really embraced the Internet or e-books,” and Brett Arends at Marketwatch because he believes the e-book hype–the actual battle for ownership of Barnes & Noble intensifies. Founder and chairman Len Riggio exercised almost 1 million options, paying more than $1.50 a share above market at the strike price of $16.96 (or $16.8 million […]
eNews: Pandigital’s Second Reader; Approval for German Digital Joint Venture; More Word on Google/Verizon Tablet
Barnes & Noble’s ebookstore powers the Pandigital readers, as the company best known for their digital frames announced a new more tablet-like model with a color touch screen. Listing for $199, “it will be available at several national retailers next month.”ReleaseCnet review A joint venture between Bertelsmann and Holtzbrinck to create an online distribution company focused on German-language digital products was cleared by the European Commission.Bookseller Rumors continue to build on the release of a tablet running a version of Google’s Chrome operating system, built by HTC, now said to be set for a November 26 release.
People: Stern Finally Joins Crown, and More News
Molly Stern has been officially cleared to join the Crown Publishing Group as svp, publisher of the Crown and Broadway imprints, starting immediately and reporting to president Maya Mavjee. Mavjee reiterates, as she noted in restructuring the Crown group in late April, that Stern will oversee the two lines’ “traditional areas of expertise” which span a variety of “narrative nonfiction areas,” but with Stern’s personal focus on fiction she will also work to “grow and to provide a new vision and director for [their] fiction publishing program.” Stern was editorial director of fiction and executive editor at Viking, where she […]
Books & Books Westhampton Faces Resentment from Some Friends of The Open Book
The high-profile arrival of Books & Books Westhampton Beach has been greeted by success among shoppers and browsers, but has also stirred resentment among at least some customers of the town’s other bookstore, The Open Book, located “about a dozen storefronts away.” The NYT covers the tensions, in which Open Book owner Terry Lucas “said Books & Books is on a course to put her already struggling store out of business.” Lucas also works as a librarian in Southampton, and had negotiated to sell the store to an employee early last yar though the deal was never consummated. Her store […]
USA Today Rails Against Rhonde Byrne’s “Crackpot Theories”
Simon & Schuster’s Atria Books is counting on solid sales for Rhonda Byrne’s THE POWER as noted yesterday, but with today’s release media skepticism about the book’s message is rising. USA Today takes an unusually aggressive position for the paper, with Deirde Donahue deriding Byrne’s “crackpot theories about finance.” Calling the book “a novel solution to our money woes,” the basic message, as Byrne writes, is that “it’s the attractive force of love that moves all the money in the world, and whoever is giving love by feeling good is a magnet for money.” Donahue cites “creepy element[s]” that include […]