Scholastic launched a social networking site “for readers around the world,” called YouAreWhatYouRead.com. In addition to building community around lists of favorite books they call Bookprints–with a stream of comments, news and reviews to be added soon–the site features celebrity Bookprints from 125 notables, including Scarlett Johansson Jodi Picoult, Malcolm Gladwell, Judy Blume, Bill Clinton, and others. Pitched for readers of all ages, it includes a separate community for younger readers “that provides kid friendly information about books and other activities.” Scholastic executive Maggie McGuire says in the announcement the site is “a celebration of the books that bind us […]
Archives for October 2010
“Roger Sterling” Gets A Book Deal
Grove/Atlantic will publish the “memoir” of TV’s Mad Men character Roger Sterling, STERLING’S GOLD: The Wit and Wisdom of An Ad Man, next month as a slim $16.95 hardcover. As NY Magazine reports, publisher Morgan Entrekin is a friend of Kieth Addis, manager of the show’s creator Matthew Weiner. In a brief introductory excerpt on the Grove website, Sterling writes: “So here it is . . . a few things overheard, a few things to live by, and hell,a few things I’ve apparently said and had repeated to me the morning after a party when I called to make amends.”NY […]
An Update On Politics & Prose’s Sale Process, And A Look at A New Model Gaining In DC
Washington’s City Paper has a long look at the sale process underway at Politics & Prose. Talking to business appraiser and broker Jeff Jones, they say a typical successful bookstore would sell for approximately 15 percent of annual sales plus the value of the inventory, leading them to a rough estimate of tangible assets (before goodwill) worth $3 million. Complications include a lease that is set to expire in two years (which Barbara Meade is renegotiating now), and a cafe arrangement that expires in 2014. The big intangible is that “no accountant will ever truly figure out is how much […]
People, Awards, Etc.: Including A Business Book Award; Whiting Winners, UK NBA Nominees
Jocelyn Kalmus joins the Free Press as a publicist. She was an assistant publicist at Harper Collins. At Scholastic Media, Daisy Kline has been promoted to vp of marketing and brand management. Westchester’s Journal News has a nice profile of editor Pam Dorman: “She never gets recognized in New Rochelle, but in the publishing world everybody knows” her. Pop star Taylor Swift played the Scholastic auditorium, “where about 200 grade-schoolers and middle-schoolers, most of them girls, had received a break from class to see Swift talk about reading and writing. The children had been selected by their schools because of […]
People
At HarperCollins, Julie Blattberg has been promoted to director, content strategy and author services. She will oversee the development and administration of their new Author Marketing Intelligence Report, as well as various other Author Services products.
Right Alongside BN, Kobo Launches Their Newsstand
As further evidence of the coming push to expand options for newspapers and magazines in the growing ereading market, today Kobo follows Barnes & Noble’s planned newsstand with their own offering, live as of today. Their site offers about 30 newspapers and magazines to start, and Kobo executive Michael Tamblyn says “this is just the beginning of an aggressive expansion into newspapers and magazines.” All of the offerings work via their iPad and iPhone apps as well as on the Kobo reader. The Apple apps include images in full-color and the iPad versions have a three-column format “that evokes the […]