Pete Bohan will join Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s as senior marketing manager, retail on January 24, based in New York. He previously worked as marketing manager at Chronicle. Children’s publisher Blue Apple Books will move distribution to Random House Publisher Services from Chronicle Books, effective July 1, 2011. Accenture chairman and former ceo William (Bill) D. Green is joining the board of directors of McGraw-Hill. Peter Costanzo is joining F+W Media as director of digital content. He was previously director of online marketing at the Perseus Books Group. Author and critic Wilfrid Sheed, 80, “the wittily satirical man of letters […]
Archives for January 2011
eNews: Amazon Buys LoveFilm; BDMI Leads Big Investment in Flat World; and More
Today a number of deals-in-progress mentioned previously have been confirmed. Amazon makes its accquisition of all remaining shares of LoveFilm, the “Netflix of Europe,” in which it already held a significant minority stake, official.Release Samsung has confirmed its acquisition of display technology firm Liquavista.Release Flat World Knowledge has received a big endorsement for their open-source textbook model, garnering more than $15 million in Series B Funding led by Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments and Bessemer Venture Partners. Also joining the round are returning investors Valhalla Partners, GSA Venture Partners (formerly Greenhill SAVP), High Peaks Venture Partners, and several angel investors. FT […]
Barnes & Noble Lays Off Staff, Including Many Well-Known Veterans
Following what was advertised as their “best [holiday] comparable store sales performance in more than a decade,” Barnes & Noble laid off an unspecified number of employees today, rumored to be roughly 40 people or more, apparently including a number of veterans well-known to publishers. Spokesperson Mary Ellen Keating said by e-mail, “We made a small number of organizational changes this week that are designed to better align our resources with our business. Barnes & Noble is a growing company with both our revenues and new hires growing faster than they have in years.” She declined to discuss the number […]
Publicize This: How to Get the WSJ to Break Your Book
The WSJ’s recently-launched weekend Review section proved it can put a book on the nation’s radar with their attention-getting (and controversially titled) except from Amy Chua’s book. (The book is called Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother; the WSJ called their excerpt “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior.”) The splash made an ideal segue to a breakfast convened by the newspaper this morning with publishers and book publicists and marketers this morning. As Review section editor Gary Rosen said, “We want to be the place where the big buzzy books start.” Rosen spoke to the support the paper provided to promote […]
Pearson Raises Earnings Guidance Again, Promises “Record Results” for Penguin
Pearson issued a brief trading update ahead of February’s full report of earnings for the year, raising their profit guidance yet again, to 76 pence per share (up from 72 pence per share), which took the stock to a new high. Even with the end-of-year Borders surprise, they say that Penguin “performed strongly in our key trading season and will report record results despite tough conditions in the physical book retail market.” Overall profits of 850 million pounds are expected to be up 20 percent over last year, “fuelled by [their] consistent investment in the global learning industry, in digital […]
Previewing the Winter Institute Galleys and Authors
With each passing year the annual ABA Winter Institute has become a showcase for emerging writers and a place to pre-launch what publishers hope will be summer hits – especially in fiction. Some of the 40-odd authors who appeared at Wi5 last year included Adam Ross (MR. PEANUT), Danielle Trussoni (ANGELOLOGY) Justin Cronin (as part of the massive pre-pub blitz for THE PASSAGE), Brady Udall (THE LONELY POLYGAMIST) and Karl Marlantes (MATTERHORN). For Wi6, which starts today in Washington, DC, the number of attending authors is up to 56 and chatter on Facebook and Twitter indicates it’s going to be […]