Barnes & Noble’s director of digital products Jamie Iannone has left the company and joined Wal-mart as president and ceo of Samsclub.com. The WSJ says he will oversee integrating the Sam’s Club website with Wal-mart’s California-based ecommerce unit as they try to grow online sales. He joined Barnes & Noble in 2009 after serving as vp, search at eBay. Iannone had received $2.87 million in salary and stock awards for the BN fiscal year ending April 2013. McGraw-Hill Education has named David Levin its new president and chief executive officer, effective April. Levin, currently ceo of UBM, succeeds Lloyd “Buzz” […]
Archives for January 2014
Germany’s Weltbild In Bankruptcy Filing
Germany’s big bookseller Weltbild has filed for bankruptcy reorganization following longstanding disagreement among the 12 Catholic diocese that own the company on how to finance it, exacerbated by declining sales in the second half of 2013. The company said in a statement, “The lower level of sales expected for the next three years as well doubles the amount of financing needed until the company is restructured.” Reuters says that the filing “does not affect the bookstores,” referring to their half-ownership of Germany’s second largest book chain, which includes the Hugendubel stores. They have been the second-largest online bookseller in the […]
The Week Ahead
The big week of Digital Book World events starts on Monday (as will our coverage) — which means you have until Sunday night to pre-enroll and avoid higher on-site prices. Our 10 percent discount on individual DBW and “total access pass” tickets is still valid, and it remains the best deal available, so use this link/code if you like to save money. We’ve already broken records on every front and are looking forward to a great program, an amazing roster of well over 100 speakers and moderators, and a rich crowd from across the industry and around the world (just […]
Trade Sales Show A Lift In Fall, But eBooks Remain Down Slightly for 2013
The AAP reported monthly sales data for September and October of 2013, showing modest gains versus a year ago when you combine the two months. Total sales first showed year-over-year gains in August, after 10 consecutive months of flat or declining numbers. September trade sales gained 7.5 percent, up $47.5 million, with increases in nearly all tracked sub-categories, to $665 million for the month. In part, however, fall titles shipped earlier in 2013 without the presidential election to steer around. Which may be why the October numbers show a slight decline, down 1.5 percent (or $11 million) at $664.5 million […]
Pierce Brown Tops February Library Reads List
The February Library Reads list top pick is RED RISING by Pierce Brown, with the rest of the list featuring: The Good Luck of Right Now, by Matthew Quick This Dark Road to Mercy, by Wiley Cash The Martian, by Andy Weir After I’m Gone, by Laura Lippman Ripper, by Isabel Allende The Ghost of the Mary Celeste, by Valerie Martin The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress, by Ariel Lawhon The Winter People, by Jennifer McMahon E.E. Cummings: A Life, by Susan Cheever
People
At Scholastic, Durya Aziz has been promoted to svp, international education publisher in the international division. At St. Martin’s Press, Yaniv Soha and Sara Goodman have both been promoted to editor. In the UK, Hodder & Stoughton has promoted Kate Howard to associate publisher. Former poet laureate of New Jersey, author of numerous books of prose, poetry, and criticism, and political activist Amiri Baraka, 79, died Thursday in Newark. He had been hospitalized in December because of an undisclosed illness but a spokesman for his son’s mayoral campaign told the Star-Ledger late last month his condition was improving.