In another memo, reproduced at GalleyCat, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt ceo Linda Zecher tells staff that the company will close its Indianapolis West warehouse next spring, which services the trade and reference division. But those products won’t move far; they will be transferred to the company’s Indianapolis East warehouse. Zecher says it’s “part of the broader reduction in our workforce” that the FT said could comprise 10 percent of the company’s employees in all. On top the last week’s executive departures and division closings, Zecher writes that evp of Innovation and New Ventures Fiona O’Carroll is leaving and that team “is being […]
Archives for November 2011
Borders Creditors Will Get Only 4 to 10 Cents On the Dollar
Borders’ current plan for Chapter 11 liquidation proceedings got a preliminary go-ahead in federal bankruptcy court Monday afternoon, when Judge Martin Glenn signed off on the company’s explanatory disclosure statement of their liquidation program. Borders currently expects to pay unsecured creditors somewhere between 4 and 10 percent of the $812 million to $850 million they are owed. Among other items gleaned from the documents: at some point “during the course of these cases,” Perseus resigned from the creditors committee (as did Sony Music). Borders continues to insist that they “intend to market [their] Kobo stock for sale.” They hold roughly 9.9 percent […]
People, Awards, Etc.
Molly Barton will move up to global digital director at Penguin as of December 1. She takes over from Dan Ruffino, who is returning home to Australia. At HarperCollins, Beth Silfin has been promoted to the newly created position of vp, deputy general counsel, responsible for overseeing the contracts department in working directly with literary agents on contracts and rights negotiations. As a result of the change in how the legal and contracts department is organized, vp, associate general counsel Tom Ward will leave the company after more than 15 years. In addition, Cindy DiTiberio has been promoted to senior […]
Authors Guild Says Kindle Lending Library Is “Outside the Bounds of the Publisher’s Authority”
In a strongly worded memo issued Monday afternoon, the Authors Guild took issue with Amazon’s Kindle Lending Library for Prime customers, in particular those titles available without express permission from publishers and authors. “How can Amazon get away with this? By giving its boilerplate contract with these publishers a tortured reading,” the Guild said, adding that permission appeared to be dispensed with “because, as Amazon apparently sees it, its contracts with these publishers merely require it to pay publishers the wholesale price of the books that Amazon Prime customers download.” The reasoning is “nonsense”, from the AG’s understanding of Amazon’s […]
Bookselling: Outwrite Bookstore Needs New Location; Parnassus Books Will Open November 19; and More
Outwrite Bookstore and Coffeehouse in Atlanta said the store may have to close after more than 18 years in business unless it can find a new location within the next few months. “Our lease is expiring in a few months and there really is no way that any model we have looked at will allow us to continue in this space,” owner Philip Rafshoon told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “For 15 years we have been a part of helping the neighborhood grow around us and hopefully we will find a location where we can do the same for another community or […]
People, Etc.
Thomas LeBien will join Simon & Schuster as vp, senior editor, specializing in history and non-fiction. He was most recently at FSG, where he was publisher of the Hill & Wang and Scientific American imprints. LeBien starts at S&S on December 21 Rachel Vogel will join Mary Evans Inc. as foreign rights director and literary agent, effective November 28th, where she’ll continue to build her list of literary and upmarket fiction, narrative nonfiction and memoir. She has previously held positions at Movable Type, Lippincott Massie McQuilkin, and Maria Campbell Associates. Parhul Segal has joined NPR as digital associate editor for […]