At Paula Wiseman Books, Sylvie Frank has been promoted to editor. Megan Reid has been promoted to associate editor at Emily Bestler Books/Atria. World Book Night US reports that media impressions nearly tripled this year, citing Cision Media and Google Analytics reports recording 373 million media impressions in April 2014. Poet Russell Edson, 79, died April 29 in Stamford, CT after a long illness.
Archives for May 2014
Inkling Closes Consumer Business to Focus on Enterprise Side; Lays Off 25 Percent of Staff
Inkling is officially closing its consumer retail business and has laid off something close to 25 percent of staff as a result. (CEO Matt MacInnis confirmed the layoffs to TechCrunch, indicating that 25 percent “was a little high.”) The company will focus on the enterprise/platform side, licensing their technology to publishers and large companies creating content for in-house use. MacInnis indicates that part of the business is performing well “and will continue hiring, he said.” MacInnis already discussed the company’s shift in a Fast Company article in March, “What Happened When A Digital Textbook Company Was Forced to Redefine Its […]
Profits Fall at Harlequin
Torstar reported first quarter results Wednesday morning, with Harlequin recording slightly lower sales and significantly lower profits compared to a year ago. Sales of $99 million (CA) were down $3.3 million or 3 percent, while operating earnings of $12.8 million fell more, down $4.3 million, a 25 percent drop from a year ago. But the company says, “Harlequin anticipated that earnings would be lower in the first quarter of 2014 relative to the very strong results posted in the first quarter of 2013 which represented the strongest quarter of 2013.” That contextualization is strange, however, if you actually look at […]
Get Organized for BEA
For a proposal I’m working on I’ve been reflecting on some of our failed experiments at PL/PM, and some of the biggest relate to BEA. Trade shows are usually a goldmine for traditional trade media, particularly for harvesting print ads by putting them against canned copy marketed as news. But we’ve always been more interested in creating value than harvesting it, and in providing tools that help people do business better. So for years we’ve tried to supplement the BEA experience in all kinds of ways. Among them, we built a site with editable web pages for every BEA exhibitor […]
People: Lubart to HBG, and More
HarperCollins svp, sales analytics and pricing Dan Lubart has joined Hachette Book Group as svp, strategy and publishing operations, reporting to coo Joe Mangan. Lubart will oversee strategic planning, business development, digital media/distribution, and supply chain management functions of all HBG imprints. His work will include “a focus on business intelligence, enhanced reporting tools that combine sales, marketing, and publicity data, and continued improvement of demand forecasting.” He will “also help to identify new business opportunities, strategic partnerships and potential areas of growth and investment.” Mangan says in the announcement, “Dan is a high impact executive with deep skills in […]
More Acquisitions: Recorded Books Buys Highbridge Audio, Harper Christian Buys Olive Tree
We already have to expand our recap of mergers and acquisitions for 2014: Workman Publishing announced the sale of its audiobook imprint HighBridge to Recorded Books as of May 1. (As noted in our list of 2014, Recorded Books itself was bought by new investors earlier this year.) Workman will continue to distribute HighBridge, and Workman imprint Algonquin will continue to license audio rights of select titles to HighBridge. The deal is notable since historically Workman has always been a buyer, not a seller, of assets. They acquired HighBridge in 2006 from Target. Carol Workman says in the announcement: “Our affiliation with HighBridge has […]