After John Malone’s praise for Len Riggio and Barnes & Noble from Sun Valley, ID, Riggio added similar remarks yesterday, saying he “couldn’t think of a better partner than John Malone and a finer group of executives than the team at Liberty.” The combination lifted Barnes & Noble shares back to well above Liberty’s opening offer of $17 a share in yesterday’s trading. The stock had dropped as low as $16.35 in late June after reporting continuing losses in establishing Nook, but rose yesterday to close at $17.85. A WSJ blog grasps at straws a bit to suggest that Riggio […]
Archives for July 2011
The August 2011 Indie Next List
1. Iron House, by John Hart Unsaid: A Novel, by Neil Abramson The Family Fang: A Novel, by Kevin Wilson The Call: A Novel, by Yannick Murphy Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline Rules of Civility: A Novel, by Amor Towles Plugged: A Novel, by Eoin Colfer The End of Everything: A Novel, by Megan Abbott The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb: A Novel, by Melanie Benjamin Among the Wonderful, by Stacy Carlson The Adjustment, by Scott Phillips Next to Love: A Novel, by Ellen Feldman Domestic Violets: A Novel, by Matthew Norman Girls in White Dresses, by Jennifer Close […]
People, Etc.
Will Sulkin announced plans to retire from his position as publishing director of Random UK’s The Bodley Head in April 2012. Editorial Director at Harvill Secker Stuart Williams will move over to The Bodley Head in January 2012 and take over as publishing director when Sulkin retires (while continuing to publish about six fiction titles a year at Harvill Secker). Williams will report to Vintage UK publisher Dan Franklin. Sulkin joined Random UK in 1990 as publisher of Pimlico and created the nonfiction Bodley Head list in 2007. He began his career in publishing at Penguin in 1969. Kate Lloyd […]
eBriefs: DRM-Free for Libraries, and Collins’ eBooks on the Way
As promised, OverDrive is making available to libraries a collection of DRM-free ebooks from those publishers willing to issue their ebooks that way (Carina Press, O’Reilly, Microsoft Press, etc.). The DRM-free titles carry the same one-lend-at-a-time-per-copy as other protected titles. Release With the forthcoming release of his new book this October, business writer Jim Collins has agreed to have HarperCollins publish GOOD TO GREAT in ebook form on July 19, followed by ebook editions over his three other books over the following few months.
Bookselling: Malone on BN; BA Objects to Amazon/Book Depository, WHSmith Store Comps Decline
Attending the Allen & Company conference in Sun Valley, Liberty Media ceo John Malone spoke publicly about the potential Barnes & Noble buyout for the first time since the possible merger was announced back in May. “It would be a bit of a flier for us, on whether or not Barnes & Noble can play competitively with the likes of Apple and Amazon in the digital transformation,” he said. “That’s really the bet.” Malone characterized the steep decline in brick-and-mortar bookselling as akin to those who survive a smallpox epidemic: “If you’re still alive, well, maybe you got a chance […]
People, Awards, Etc.: Johnson Prize, Cleary, and More
Frank Dikotter’s MAO’S GREAT FAMINE won the UK’s richest nonfiction book award, the Samuel Johnson Prize. The judges called it a”meticulous account of a brutal manmade calamity is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the history of the 20th century.” (Bloomsbury and Walker published it in both the UK and US.) Bookmasters has hired Ernesto Martinez as manager of Spanish-language products and programs, overseeing their growing Spanish-language book and content services division. For the past five years, he was Borders’ Spanish language book buyer. Copyright Clearance Center has hired author and high tech industry veteran Haralambos “Babis” Marmanis as […]