There is still no actual ceo for all of Barnes & Noble, but the Nook Media subsidiary has added two more senior executives. Mahesh Veerina will become chief operating officer on October 7. He led the global software and cloud services team of over 2,500 engineers at Motorola Mobility until 2012, and was ceo of Ramp Networks and a vp at Nokia. Doug Carlson is evp of digital content and marketing, effective immediately. Most recently he was executive chairman and managing director for Zinio — which helped create BarnesandNoble.com’s “see inside” the book previews. Both report Nook Media ceo Michael […]
Archives for September 2013
People, Etc.
Penguin Random House has formed a cross-company audio group in the US. Amanda D’Acierno will run the group as svp, publisher, Penguin Random House Audio, Fodor’s, and Living Language. Patti Pirooz is senior executive producer and Dan Zitt is vp, content production. Madeline McIntosh indicated in a memo: “Our frontlist and backlist audio titles will continue to be sold by the respective Penguin and Random House retail sales reps who currently sell them. The dedicated audio marketing, library sales, and publicity teams of the former Random House Audio Group will extend their activities to support Penguin’s audio list.” Cookbook author […]
BISG Presents Industry Awards, and More
The BISG presented their first industry awards Friday at their annual meeting (informally dubbed the Groupies by BISG staff members). The honorees were: Friend of the Industry: Phil Madans, Hachette Book Group Industry Innovation: Edelweiss Disruptor: Allen Lau, Wattpad Most Valuable Committee Participant: Laurie Stark, Penguin Random House In other awards, the October Target Book Club pick is the new trade paperback edition of Ann Leary’s THE GOOD HOUSE. The Southern California Independent Booksellers presented their awards on Friday, to books ranging from Publishers Lunch Buzz Books Spring/Summer title Tom McNeal’s FAR FAR AWAY for YA fiction to Marisa Silver’s MARY […]
People
Candlewick editor-at-large Joan Powers has been promoted to group editorial director for the company’s new licensed publishing divisions Candlewick Entertainment and for Walker Entertainment, both of which will launch its first lists in spring 2014. Powers will report to Helen McAleer and will continue to edit select authors for Candlewick. In addition, Kristen Nobles has been promoted group art director for both divisions, reporting to Powers. Clelia Gore will join Martin Literary Management on October 1, where she will oversee the agency’s new children’s division. Mike Conlon has rejoined Red Wheel Weiser Books as production manager, in the company’s Newburyport, […]
eNews: Penguin Does Allow Direct Kindle Borrowing on OverDrive; Sony Won’t Sell New Reader in US; And More
Just two days after Penguin resumed selling digital library copies to OverDrive, the company has relinquished its requirement that library users who borrow Kindle editions from OverDrive must sideload them via USB. As OverDrive announced in a blog post, Penguin titles will be available for wireless download via OverDrive’s “Get for Kindle” button, which redirects to Amazon’s website. A spokesperson for Penguin declined to comment on what persuaded them to change their policy. Sony‘s latest e-reader, the PRS-T3, will not be sold in the US, effectively signaling the company’s exit from the market here after years of apparent decline and disinterest. […]
BISG’s Mission Moves From Books to Content
At today’s Book Industry Study Group annual meeting in New York, board chair Ken Michaels unveiled the 40-year-old organization’s new and expanded mission statement after months of work: “BISG’s mission is to facilitate innovation and share solutions for the benefit of all companies and practitioners that create, produce and distribute published content, and the organizations that support them.” That new statement quite specifically omits the word “book,” which tells you something about the likelihood of a name change on the way for the organization as well. Towards the end of the presentation Michaels noted BISG “really isn’t a group that […]