Amazon announced it will close its distribution center in Irving, TX on April 12 and scuttle plans to hire 1,000 more people for the facility, which opened in 2006. The move came in response to an ongoing tax dispute with the State of Texas, which seeks to collect $269 million in revenue from the retailer. “Despite much hard work and the support of other Texas officials, we’ve been unable to come to a resolution with the Texas comptroller’s office,” VP operations Dave Clark said in a letter to employees obtained by the Dallas Morning News. “Closing this fulfillment [distribution] center […]
Archives for February 2011
People, Etc.
At Scholastic, Anamika Bhatnagar has been promoted to Executive Editor and Director of Paperback Reprints, and Doug Analla has been promoted to Director, Marketing and Creative Services for Klutz. In addition, Samantha Schutz has re-joined the company as Executive Editor, Licensed Publishing. Previously she was at Grosset & Dunlap/PSS!. At PublicAffairs, Brandon Proia has joined as editor, effective February 1, and Clara Platter has been named senior editor, effective March 1. Proja was previously with Basic Books and Platter arrives from Princeton University Press. In addition, senior editor Lindsay Jones is leaving after seven years to pursue independent editorial projects […]
Store News: Diesel Malibu to Close; USA Today Celebrates Surviving Indies; NC Privacy Suit Settled, and More
Diesel Bookstore in Malibu will close shortly, but co-owners John Evans and Alison Reid hope to find a new location in which to reopen before the end of the year. They blamed a “a protracted legal skirmish” along with low sales, saying the retail center in which they are located turned into a “ghost town” after new owners took over. Diesel’s Brentwood and Oakland stores remain open, and are said to be doing well. LAist The NYT notes that in addition to the 31 layoffs at Powell’s, the bookseller “reduced its work force by about 40 employees in the last […]
BEA Announces First Round of Featured Authors
BEA has announced some of the speakers at this year’s big events. The Tuesday children’s breakfast will feature Brian Selznick, author of Wonderstruck; Sarah Dessen, author of What Happened to Goodbye; and Kevin Henkes, author of Little White Rabbit and Junonia, with Julianne Moore as MC. Wednesday’s breakfast showcases Diane Keaton, author of Then Again; Jefferey Eugenides, author of The Marriage Plot; and Charlaine Harris, author of Dead Reckoning, with Mindy Kaling, author of Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, as MC. Thursday’s breakfast offers Roger Ebert, author of Life Itself: A Memoir; Anne Enright, author of The Forgotten Waltz; […]
People, Etc.
At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Trade & Reference group, Paul Shannon has been promoted to svp finance. Current svp digital strategy and planning Cheryl Toto expands her role to svp business planning and strategy, adding business operations and business applications to her responsibilities. With DEAD RECKONING, the twelfth Sookie Stackhouse book, set for publication in May, author Charlaine Harris says she is almost finished with the series. “Truthfully, the next two books will probably be the last two books in the series. I still love Sookie, but I’m beginning to want to write something else, and Sookie;s kind of taken over […]
Lagardere Improves In Fourth Quarter, Down 4 Percent (Against Big Meyer Comp)
The slide in Lagardere Publishing’s results compared to last year’s record Stephenie Meyer-driven performance eased in their fourth quarter, with sales of 556 million euros down 4.1 percent from 580 million euros a year ago. The company says “new best-sellers helped to improve the trend line in the United States and the United Kingdom compared with the first nine months,” even though HBG USA declined 14 percent in the fourth quarter due to more modest Meyer sales. (They say books from Jon Stewart, Keith Richards and Chelsea Handler helped to balance out that decline.) Hachette UK was down 7 percent in […]