Hachette Australia ceo and chairman of Hachette New Zealand Matt Richell, 40, was killed in a surfing accident in Sydney earlier Wednesday, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. In a statement Hachette UK ceo Tim Hely Hutchinson said: “With great sorrow, and in shock, we have to announce the death of our beloved friend and colleague. Our thoughts and most heartfelt condolences are with Matt’s wife Hannah, his family, his colleagues and many friends in publishing and more widely.” Crown announced a number of recent promotions in the editorial department. Kevin Doughten has been promoted to senior editor for both the […]
Archives for July 2014
World Book Night US Will Shut Down
World Book Night US will suspend operations after three years. The organization said in a statement that the expenses of running the effort “are too high to sustain without additional outside funding,” especially considering the “significant financial and time commitment from publishers, writers, booksellers, librarians, printers, distributors, and shippers.” WBN staff will stay on board, without pay, through September 1 to announce the winners of the giver essay contest. World Book Night US executive director Carl Lennertz called the three-year effort a “success by all measures, except for one: Outside funding. For three years, the publishing industry and book community […]
Penguin Random House Completes the Santillana Spanish-Language Acquisition
Penguin Random House announced Tuesday it has completed the acquisition of the Santillana’s trade book business Santillana Ediciones Generales from PRISA for 72 million euros. (Note: This was the price in Prisa’s press release; Bertelsmann’s annual report for 2014 later stated, “The consideration transferred amounted to €53 million and was fully paid in cash”; it’s possible that Prisa’s figure included the Brazilian unit, while Bertelsmann’s statement applied only to “activities in Spain, Portugal and Latin America.”) One component of the deal — the acquisition of Objetiva, Santillana’s Brazilian trade business, is still pending, and “expected to be completed later in […]
Bookselling: Schuler Books Buys Nicola’s; New Owners for Orinda Books
Schuler Books, which owns and operates three stores in Michigan, will acquire Nicola’s Books in Ann Arbor, which has been for sale since the beginning of the year. Shelf Awareness reports that under the agreement, the store, which Nicola Rooney acquired in 1995 after four years operating as a Little Professor franchise, “will continue to operate as Nicola’s Books and Rooney will stay on as a consultant during the transition.” Of the sale, Rooney commented: “Joining the family of Schuler bookstores ensures that the future of Nicola’s Books will be in good hands. The familiar faces of our booksellers will […]
Amazon Picks Lepucki For July But Still Isn’t Selling It Yet
Amazon’s “best books of the month” list for July once again selects a forthcoming Hachette Book Group title that they are not willing to sell on a pre-order basis — in this case, Edan Lepucki’s CALIFORNIA, the title that Stephen Colbert urged his fans to pre-order from independent stores as part of his “ongoing war with Amazon.” (Little, Brown will publish on July 8.) The Spotlight title for the month is War of the Whales: A True Story, by Joshua Horwitz, and the featured debut is Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng. The other highlighted titles are: High as the […]
People, Etc.
Longtime vp, director of publicity at Penguin Maureen Donnelly, 59, died Monday at Overlook Medical Center in Summit, NJ of breast cancer. Before joining Penguin, Donnelly worked at Simon & Schuster and New American Library in a publishing career that spanned 40 years. A wake will be held in Roselle, NJ on Wednesday, with a funeral to follow the following day. Condolences can be offered here. Penguin Random House announced a number of appointments in the recently-united special markets department. Pam Roman is vp, director, specialty retail & wholesale sales and business development; Tammy Cabot is director, national accounts, specialty sales; Mary Margaret Callahan is director, in-house […]