German media group Weltbild, which went into bankruptcy reorganization last January, has been acquired by private equity group Paragon, Manager Magazin reports. As part of the deal, for which terms were not disclosed, Paragon will take a majority stake in Weltbild and transfer the main business in Germany as well as satellite operations in Austria and Switzerland to a new company. Since the bankruptcy, 900 of Weltbild’s employees (nearly 50 percent of the workforce) have lost their jobs and 50 of 220 stores have closed. Amazon has partnered with Italian bookstore chain Giunti, which will allow the bookseller to sell […]
Archives for May 2014
The Last Chance for Some BEA Buzz Samples
Before we announce our newest Buzz Books authors for BEA and beyond into the fall/winter publishing season, it’s worth noting that our Spring/Summer edition of Buzz Books has quietly featured a number of BEA authors and books. (Because Winter Institute was early this year, we published our Spring Buzz Books sampler in mid-January, but it featured samples of titles for release all the way through the first week of August.) Over a dozen of the titles sampled are still to come. You’ll find featured at BEA a signing by debut novelist Malcolm Brooks (Painted Horses) and a Book Con appearance […]
People, Etc.
Associate publisher Tracy Locke will leave the Penguin Press on May 16. Thereafter, she can be reached at locketracy32@gmail.com. Jessica Purcell has joined Knopf as associate director of publicity. Previously she was a publicity manager at Norton. At HarperAudio, Sean McManus was promoted to senior director. In addition, Caitlin Garing moves up to senior producer and Erin Wicks has been promoted to producer. The Elina Ahlback Literary Agency, based in Helsinki and focused on representing Finnish authors, illustrators and publishers to the US market, has recently opened an office in New York, headed by Laura Palotie. She is based out of Makeshift […]
People
At Rizzoli, Robb Pearlman has been promoted to associate publisher, Universe Books, Calendars, and Licensing, while Dung Ngo moves up to the new position of creative director. In addition, Kaija Markoe has been appointed associate director of production. At Workman, Maisie Tivnan has been promoted to senior editor, and Justin Krasner and Heather Schwedel have both been promoted to assistant editor. Election results for the ABA board of directors are now official, with Jamie Fiocco of Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, NC joining the board, as John Evans of Diesel and Matthew Norcross of McLean & Eakin were both reelected to second […]
Simon & Schuster Grows Profits Even With Sales Down 11 Percent
After a year of record profits, Simon & Schuster continued to maintain strong margins, even with declining sales, in the first quarter of 2014. Sales fell 11 percent to $153 million (down $18 million), but OIBDA was up 8 percent (or $1 million) to $13 million. Parent company CBS said that sales a year ago had “benefited from the continued success of fourth quarter 2012 releases,” though even in that quarter sales were down 3 percent from the first quarter of 2012. As CEO Carolyn Reidy told us plainly, “we didn’t have as many strong books as we did the […]
Many Hachette Print Books Are Hard to Get From Amazon, As “Negotiations Are Underway”
A large number of Hachette Book Group print books are not available directly from Amazon.com in timely fashion, showing as shipping in anywhere from 2 to 5 weeks, even though the same titles are readily in stock at other booksellers. The NYT takes note of the unusual situation and elicits a response from HBG spokesperson Sophie Cottrell, who says Amazon is doing this “for reasons of their own.” Cottrell provided us with the company’s full statement: “It is our normal policy not to comment on negotiations underway with any retailer. “However, we have been asked legitimate questions about why many of […]