Amazon and Barnes & Noble’s “best books of July” lists both feature Ivy Pochoda’s Visitation Street, the second selection for the Dennis Lehane Books imprint. The other picks from each retailer include: Amazon The English Girl, Daniel Silva The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells, Andrew Sean Greer I Wear the Black Hat, Chuck Klosterman The Universe Versus Alex Woods, Gavin Extence Five Star Billionaire, Tash Aw Coming Clean, Kimberly Rae Miller Lost Girls, Robert Kolker Sisterland, Curtis Sittenfeld My Education, Susan Choi Fiend, Peter Stenson Barnes & Noble Topsy, Michael Daly The Night Gwen Stacy Died, Sarah Bruni Fin & […]
Archives for July 2013
People, Etc.
Julie Trelstad has joined Writers House as director, digital rights. Previously she was an independent consultant and founder of Plain White Press. At Harlequin, Emer Flounders has been named publicity manager, fiction. Previously he was a senior publicist at Simon & Schuster’s adult trade imprint. In addition, Lauren Jackson recently joined as associate publicist. Previously she was a publicity assistant at Tarcher. At eBound Canada, Krystyna Ross has been appointed Interim chief executive officer, replacing Robert Hayashi who left the organization earlier in the year. Most recently an independent publishing consultant, Ross has held executive positions with McClelland & Stewart […]
Cengage Files For Bankruptcy On Schedule; Will Eliminate Over $4 Billion of Debt
As expected, Cengage Learning and all of its US subsidiaries have voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, to “significantly reduce” their gigantic debt load of $5.8 billion. The deal with their first lien holders will restructure the company’s obligations to eliminate “more than $4 billion in debt.” New financing is not required for now, however. The company says it “maintains substantial cash balances and expects to generate positive cash flow, and therefore does not need nor intend to obtain debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing.” CEO Michael Hansen says exactly what executives say in this situation: “A more appropriately-sized capital structure, along […]
People: Redmayne Appointed HarperCollins UK CEO As Barnsley Exits
After 13 years as ceo of HarperCollins UK, Victoria Barnsley is leaving the company at the end of the week following a restructuring of Harper’s international business. Under the new structure, the management of HarperCollins Australia, HarperCollins New Zealand and HarperCollins India will be transferred from the UK to the US, where they will now report directly to Brian Murray. Replacing Barnsley as ceo is Charlie Redmayne, the company’s former chief digital officer who left in 2011 to serve as Pottermore’s chief executive officer. Redmayne starts back at Harper UK on August 5 and will report to Murray. In a […]
With The Merger Complete, Some of Penguin Random House’s Next Steps
Following the merger of Penguin and Random House into a single global entity, a new corporate website is already live, complete with a merged company history and new @penguinrandomhouse.com email exchanges (though the company says the “immensity and technical complexity of the project” means US and Canadian staffers won’t switch over to the new email addresses for months.) In a letter to US staff, Penguin Random House ceo Markus Dohle said he has “learned a lot” from meetings and conversations since the merger announcement eight months ago. “You have delivered a strong performance over the past eight months, during a time when […]
Appeals Court Vacates Class Certification in Google Books Lawsuit Until Fair Use Issues Are Resolved
In a brief five-page ruling, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals vacated Judge Denny Chin’s June 2012 certification of the Authors Guild as a class in the long-running Google Books lawsuit, which itself was a repeat of the original 2005 class certification. The appeals court concluded that class certification “was premature in the absence of a determination by the District Court of the merits of Google’s ‘fair use’ defense.” They also opined that “Google’s claim that plaintiffs are not representative of the certified class” is “an argument which, in our view, may carry some force.” So the actual issues of […]