Harlequin’s current parent company Torstar announced second quarter results on Wednesday morning, and the company said it now “anticipate[s] closing the transaction on or about August 1” to sell Harlequin to HarperCollins. They have “received the regulatory clearances and approvals required,” and “while the transaction remains subject to certain customary closing conditions, the parties continue to work toward satisfying these conditions.” Torstar expects to book a gain of approximately $225 million on the sale. For the second quarter, Harlequin’s sales fell $3.1 million to $96.4 million, and net income fell $4 million, to just $1.6 million. The company had $2.3 million […]
Archives for July 2014
People, PEN Awards, Etc.
Marcie Lawrence has joined Little, Brown Books for Young Readers as designer. She is a recent graduate from the School of Visual Arts MFA Design program, and was previously at Wenner Media. In addition, Maggie Edkins has been promoted to assistant designer. Susan Peterson has joined CodeManta as svp, sales. Most recently she was president of Blackwell Book Services, North America, prior to which she was svp of digital business at Baker & Taylor. Author, journalist, and NYC correspondent for National Public Radio Margot Adler died in New York City on July 28. DRAWING DOWN THE MOON was her well-known work […]
Amazon Resumes Negotiation By Forum Post
Amazon posted on their Kindle Forum about their negotiations with Hachette Book Group on Tuesday afternoon. While the company tells people in the trade when looking for “feedback” that they are looking for their fare share of the “business efficiencies” and profits created by the growing ebook market, their argument to the public on their own forum is that “a key objective is lower e-book prices.” They say that’s “a” key objective, but the entire post is then about ebook prices. Notice carefully they acknowledge there are other objectives in their negotiations that they do not disclose or discuss at all. […]
Macmillan to Offer Frontlist eBooks to Libraries, At $60 Each
Macmillan is broadening their ebook library lending program to include frontlist ebooks for the first time. Last October they went from a modest pilot program to a full backlist offer of approximately 11,000 titles. With the expansion announced Wednesday, Macmillan will offer ebooks for lending the same day new books go on sale, and their full collection of available titles grows to approximately 15,000 books. Frontlist titles will be available to order in early August. Newly-published titles are priced for libraries at $60 each, dropping to a standard $40 each 12 months after publication, vendors tell us. The frontlist titles will […]
People, Etc.
Brenda Marsh has joined Abrams in the newly created position of vp, business development. The position will focus on both new and existing business opportunities, market analysis and company growth initiatives. Most recently, Marsh was vp, author relations at Barnes & Noble. Last week, Barnes & Noble added retired Vice Admiral John R. Ryan to the board. They note in their filing that he “has substantial experience serving on public company boards undergoing strategic transactions such as separations, including serving as a director of Cablevision Systems Corporation during its 2010 spinoff of Madison Square Garden, its 2011 spinoff of AMC Networks, Inc., […]
People, Etc.
Kerry Eltman has joined Fox Chapel Publishing as chief financial officer. Previously he was controller at The Jay Group, a logistics and supply chain company. John Aardema has joined Sourcebooks in the newly created position of art director in the entertainment & gift group. He spent the past nine years as a freelance art director. William LoTurco has joined Kuhn Projects as an associate agent. Previously, he was at Vigliano Associates and WME. The Romance Writers of America announced its Golden Heart and RITA Award winners at its annual conference in San Antonio, TX last Friday. As of Monday morning, […]