The Department of Labor has issued new rules regarding overtime pay that, if implemented, would significantly lift the minimum salary level at which white collar and creative employees are exempt from overtime pay requirements — going from the current $23,660 per year up to a new level of $47,476 per year. The new rule is scheduled for implementation on December 1. But “Republican lawmakers, who are close to many of the industries that oppose the new rule, have vowed to block it during a mandated congressional review period,” the NYT reports. If adopted, the new rules could have broad applicability […]
Archives for May 2016
People, Etc.
Beverly Rykerd has been promoted to vp, director of publicity at Waterbrook Multnomah. In addition Lisa Beech is returning to the company as assistant director of publicity. Most recently she was a publicist at David C. Cook for the last four and a half years, and originally worked at Waterbrook/Multnomah between 2006 and 2008. Zondervan has promoted Jesse Hillman to vp, marketing for the church, academic, reference, and reflective publishing team. Elissa Schappell, Vanity Fair’s “Hot Type” columnist for more than twenty years, is bidding the magazine “a fond farewell” to focus more time on her own writing. In the […]
Quotable: Bezos Confirms the Known About Stores
It’s making news that Amazon ceo Jeff Bezos confirmed at the company’s annual meeting what is already known about their store rollout, without adding anything in particular: “We’re definitely going to open additional stores, how many we don’t know yet,” he said. “In these early days it’s all about learning, rather than trying to earn a lot of revenue.” Their second store in La Jolla, CA is due to open this summer. As we have noted before, job postings on the company’s site indicate the intention to hire a full management infrastructure to support multiple stores. After all, among recent listings, […]
Goodreads Enters eMail Deals Business
One tried and true digital marketing tool (for now, at least) is email deal newsletters, and now Goodreads is joining the game. Goodreads Deals will alert site members when an ebook on their “want to read” list or an author they follow is discounted. They are also offering daily deals email newsletters in three genre fiction categories, along with “bestsellers,” and they say they plan “to expand into more genres as quickly as we can.” The program starts in the US. In the press release Goodreads ceo Otis Chandler says, “This program is also a powerful new marketing tool for authors and publishers; […]
People: Pfuhl to Holtzbrinck In Germany, and More
Joerg Pfuhl will join Holtzbrinck on September 1 as chief executive officer of their German trade publishing group, reporting to John Sargent. Previously Pfuhl was ceo of Verlagsgruppe Random House from 2002 to 2011, and more recently was a professor at the University of Applied Management and held board positions with Edel AG and the Franz Cornelsen Foundation. Sargent said in the announcement: “I have known Joerg since his highly successful tenure as president of Random House in New York, and watched with admiration as he transformed Random House in Germany. He has remarkable skills as a publishing executive, combined with […]
People, Awards, Etc.
Kathleen Schmidt has joined Rodale as associate publisher, Rodale Books, reporting to Gail Gonzales. She was previously vp, marketing and publicity at Running Press, and will oversee the sales, digital product, managing editorial and Rodale Wellness digital content teams. Gonzales said in the announcement: “I’m delighted to welcome Kathleen to Rodale Books. She’s been hugely successful working on the Running Press lines of business. Her well rounded publishing experience in sales, marketing, and publicity will be a great asset to us as we take our business forward in new and exciting directions and connect with even more readers and consumers of […]