Barnes & Noble finally has a chief executive officer again, though nothing has actually changed at the company. Mike Huseby, who has been acting as the top executive since William Lynch was dismissed last July, has officially been promoted to companywide ceo. (When Lynch left, Huseby was promoted to ceo of the Nook Media unit and president of B&N Inc. Barnes & Noble Retail ceo Mitchell Klipper, who has been reporting to chairman Len Riggio, will now report to Huseby, along with BN College ceo Max Roberts. Riggio says of Huseby in the announcement, “Although a relative newcomer to the […]
Archives for January 2014
More Corporate Sales: Academy Chicago, and UK Agency Pollinger
Chicago Review Press has acquired Academy Chicago Publishers for an undisclosed sum (though a spokeswoman for the purchaser cited a “six-figure price”) which will have Chicago Review Press publishing original fiction for the first time. They expect to immediately begin publishing fifteen to twenty new titles annually under the Academy Chicago imprint. Jordan and Anita Miller, who founded ACP in 1975, will work as editors at-large for Chicago Review Press for the next two years, and IPG will distribute all Academy Chicago Publishers books, including their backlist of approximately 300 titles. Chicago Review Press publisher Cynthia Sherry said in the announcement: “Our two companies have […]
BN Closes One-Time “Flagship” On Lower Fifth; Powell’s Remodels
Barnes & Noble closed their store at 18th Street and Fifth Avenue on Monday, spokesperson Mary Ellen Keating told Gothamist, following up on an answering machine message saying the store was permanently closed. A sign on the door tells visitors, “Thank you for your patronage over the years.” The former “flagship” store — across the street from the company’s headquarters — it was the only BN retail location in business when Len Riggio purchased the company in 1971, though by the company’s account it “had fallen into decline.” A few years thereafter, it was proclaimed “the world’s largest bookstore,” offering over […]
People, Etc.
In the UK, Scholastic Children’s Books managing director Hilary Murray Hill is leaving after 8 years at the company to join Egmont UK as managing director in March. Scholastic says they will name a “replacement in due course,” and for now the publishing division will report to co-group managing director Catherine Bell. Annette Pollert has joined Sourcebooks Fire as editorial manager. Previously, she was an editor at Simon Pulse. Shannon O’Neill has joined Lippincott Massie McQuilkin as agent. She was previously editorial director and agent at The Sagalyn Agency. O’Neill will remain based in Washington, DC, focusing on narrative nonfiction, popular science, current […]
People, Etc.
At Harper Children’s, Erica Sussman has been promoted to editorial director. Editorial director of Book Business and Publishing Executive magazines Lynn Rosen‘s position was eliminated. Kate Atkinson’s LIFE AFTER LIFE won the best novel category Costa Book Award, while Nathan Filer’s THE SHOCK AND THE FALL was awarded the debut novel category prize. Those and other category winners will compete for the overall Costa, to be decided on January 28. Former managing director of Secker and Warburg in the UK Tom Rosenthal, 78, has died. Anova Books ceo Polly Powell has bought out the company from co-founders Robin Wood and […]
The Book(s) of the Year
With picks aggregated from a total of 58 sources in all, the clear consensus for the 2013 “book of the year” has ended in…a tie. George Saunders’ TENTH OF DECEMBER and Donna Tartt’s THE GOLDFINCH stood well above all others in the final count, each garnering 25 picks. (That ties them with the votes for Hilary Mantel’s Bring Up the Bodies a year ago, but leaves them short of the 2012 book of the year, Katherine Boo’s Behind The Beautiful Forevers, which made 29 different lists.) Not only did those two works of fiction tie for the top honors, but […]