Emma Cline’s debut novel The Girls tops the ABA’s June Indie Next List. Also included are 5 of our spring Buzz Books titles — Noah Hawley’s Before the Fall, Joe Hill’s The Fireman, My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix, The Curious Charms of Doctor Pepper by Phaedra Patrick, and Emma Straub’s Modern Lovers, excerpts of which you can start reading right now in Buzz Books 2016: Spring/Summer. Grab it now, since we’ll be unveiling the fall/winter Buzz Books in time for BEA next week. The full June Indie Next list features: Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi Smoke, by Dan Vyleta Lily […]
Archives for April 2016
People, Etc.
Trish Todd is returning to Touchstone as vp, executive editor — reporting to Susan Moldow. Todd had been at Touchstone for 15 years, up until 2010, where she was editor-in-chief, before moving over to Simon & Schuster. Moldow writes to staff, “In the more than twenty years that Trish and I have both served in various capacities at Simon & Schuster, I have always hoped that we might work directly together.” Marilynne Robinson is retiring from her position as a F. Wendell Miller Professor at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop after teaching there for 25 years. Thereafter she will serve as professor emerita. Mary Rowles […]
The Rest of Publishing: Education Declined, While Other Markets Were Flat
Following yesterday’s report on the AAP’s trade sales data for 2015, we take a broader look at the other book publishing segments also charted by the organizations. The two big educational markets both got smaller in 2015: Higher ed sales declined 7 percent to $4.078 billion (down from $4.396 billion in 2014), and the similarly large K-12 market also declined, down 4 percent to $3.238 billion. Otherwise, the specialized markets tracked by the AAP were broadly flat. Religious presses had sales of $535 million (up $6 million); professional books were down $6 million, at $795 million for the year. University presses […]
Riggio To Retire As B&N Chairman in September
Barnes & Noble, Inc. founder Leonard Riggio, 75, announced he will retire in September from his position as executive chairman — after the annual shareholder meeting — though he intends to remain on the company’s board of directors. Riggio still controls 17.5 percent of Barnes & Noble’s shares (with Abrams Capital Management as the company’s second-largest holder, now with almost 14 percent of the stock). Paul Guenther, a board member since 2015 and former president of Paine Webber, will serve as BN’s nonexecutive chairman after Riggio’s retirement. “I’m no longer going to be in charge. I’m done with that. I’m done with being top […]
Apple Falls Below Low Expectations — But “Services” Still Grows
As expected, Apple reported the first year-over-year quarterly decline in revenue in more than a decade, as sales of $50.56 billion fell below analysts’ lowered expectations. Sales were down in every region except Japan, with China and the rest of Asia declining more than the US (-10%) and Europe (-5%). But in the segment that has the most relevance for the book business, and the area where they are directly competitive with Amazon and Google, the “services” line item that includes the iTunes stores, revenue still grew. Sales of $5.99 billion were up 20 percent from $5 billion a year ago. […]
People: Hirshey to Depart HarperCollins
Harper publisher Jonathan Burnham wrote to staff that executive editor David Hirshey “has decided to relocate to Los Angeles where his daughter is pursuing a career as a TV writer and is soon to be married.” He will leave the publisher on June 17 after nearly 18 years with the company. Burnham notes, “We wish David the very best for his new life in California. We also thank him for all his many contributions to Harper.” In other personnel news, Amazon’s country manager for China Doug Gurr will return to the UK to take over as head of the company’s business there in […]