Joel Scotkin has joined Open Road in the new role of chief technology officer, reporting to ceo Jane Friedman. Scotkin was previously ceo and founder of the technology consulting firm Random Walk and later ceo and lead investor in Masten Space Systems, a start-up focused on reusable space travel. Michelle Richter is joining Foreword Literary as an associate agent. She has been an editor at St. Martin’s. She is planning to represent a broad selection of fiction, and nonfiction focused on fashion, film, television, science, medicine, sociology/social trends, and economics for trade audiences. Jana Burson has launched The Burson Agency, […]
Archives for April 2014
Barnes & Noble Stock Falls 12 Percent; Riggio Reflects
Barnes & Noble stock fell almost 12 percent on Thursday following the disclosure of chairman Len Riggio’s big sale of 3.7 million shares, reducing his stake to roughly 20 percent (down from 30 percent at the beginning of December). Trading finished at $16.37 a share on heavy volume of 9.4 million shares, but now investors have a long weekend to cool off. While the recent sales by Riggio and Lberty Media have weighed on the company’s stock price, it had been usually high up until those sales — which made it easier for these big investors to sell. “Several weeks […]
Indies Choice Winners: Atkinson, Marra, Rowell and More
The Indies Choice Award winners (and related ABA-selected E.B. White Read-Aloud Award winners) were named, for formal presentation at BEA. Additionally, indie bookstore benefactor James Patterson will be honored with the Indie Champion Award. The winning books and authors are: Adult Fiction Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson (Reagan Arthur Books) Adult Debut A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, by Anthony Marra (Hogarth) Adult Nonfiction The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, by Daniel James Brown (Viking) Young Adult Eleanor & Park, by Rainbow Rowell (Griffin) Middle Reader Flora and […]
People: On Marquez, 87, and More
Nobel Prize-winning novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 87, died at home in Mexico City on Thursday, following complications from pneumonia. Among the many appreciations of his work and life are these from Michiko Kakutani and Hector Tobar. Hillary Clinton‘s June 10 memoir has a title — HARD CHOICES and a final jacket: “All of us face hard choices in our lives,” she writes. “Life is about making such choices. Our choices and how we handle them shape the people we become.” Author Jesmyn Ward will join the faculty of Tulane University on July 1 as the first to hold the Paul and Debra Gibbons […]
Briefs: NEA Grants, Warren’s Memoir, Samsung for Kindle, and More
The National Endowment for the Arts announced nearly a thousand grants totaling roughly $75 million for the second half of their fiscal year. Literature claims just a small slice of that largesse, with 56 grants comprising $1.42 million. Among the larger recipients, receiving grants of between $30,000 and $90,000, are: 826 National; Association of Writers & Writing Programs; Council of Literary Magazines and Presses; Grub Street; The Loft Literary Center; PEN American Center; PEN/Faulkner; Poets & Writers; and Small Press Distribution. The full list (if you scroll down) is posted here. The Boston Globe “obtained” a copy of Elizabeth Warren‘s embargoed memoir set for release next […]
Google Play Continues Growth
Google reported first quarter earnings Wednesday afternoon that were somewhat short of analysts’ expectations on both sales and earnings. Our narrow interest in their earnings reports remains the hints regarding their expanding Play store. The category that includes Play results — “other revenues” — was up 48 percent compared to a year ago, at $1.554 billion. The same revenue line comprised $1.65 for the previous holiday quarter, and just under $5 billion for all of 2013. As we noted earlier, this business category includes the Google Play store; their hardware line (Nexus devices and Chromecasts, but not Chromebooks); and their […]