On Wednesday WH Smith issued a short trading notice in advance of their annual results on August 31, saying the report will be “in line with expectations.” Simple enough. That release inspired an equally short but potentially confusing Bloomberg piece that declares, “In the era of Facebook and Twitter, a British newspaper seller pre-dating Queen Victoria is providing bigger gains for investors than modern technology. Over the last five years, WH Smith shares have eclipsed an index that also includes Apple and Google, even as its sales have maintained a steady decline.” Yes, WH Smith’s stock rose sharply between January […]
Archives for August 2016
People, Etc.
At St. Martin’s, Lisa Senz has been promoted to vp, associate publisher, reporting to Jennifer Enderlin. Jackie Cantor will join Gallery Books as senior editor on August 29. Most recently she was executive editor at Berkley. Jessica Schmidt will join Running Press as director of marketing and publicity on September 14, working out of the Philadelphia offices. Previously she was director of sales and subsidiary rights at The Story Plant. Cara Raguz joins BlueBottleBiz as marketing coordinator. Previously she worked in the field marketing department at Nimble Storage. Awards Marilynne Robinson has won the Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award […]
WME Acquires RWSG
William Morris Endeavor has acquired LA-based agency Rabineau Wachter Sanford & Gillett. Principals Sylvie Rabineau and Jill Holwager Gillett will join WME as co-heads of the book to film/TV division, and will work in the film and TV departments as well. Geoffrey Sanford continue to represent authors and co-agents for WME. Liza Wachter is said to be leaving to pursue producing and philanthropic projects. WME head of books Jennifer Rudolph Walsh said in the announcement, “This acquisition builds upon WME’s commitment to great storytelling and our love of books. With Sylvie and Jill at the helm, we are thrilled to extend our great resources to […]
Briefs: Bissonnette to Forfeit All “No Easy Day” Royalties; Amazon May Plan Drive-Up Grocery Stores
Former Navy SEAL Matt Bissonnette formally settled the case brought against him by the Federal government for failing to obtain pre-publication review and clearance for his bestselling book No Easy Day. He will disgorge all royalties for the book, or about $6.6 million, and has apologized for his actions. (As early as November 2014 Bissonnette said he had negotiated terms with the government that would have him forfeit his royalties.) “I acknowledge my mistake and have paid a stiff price, both personally and financially, for that error,” Bissonnette said. “I accept responsibility for failing to submit the book for review and apologize […]
People
At Putnam, Ashley Hewlett has been promoted to publicity manager, while Elena Hershey moves up to senior publicist. Melissa Ceraso has been named editor in mathematics and the natural sciences, and Jason Simon has been hired as senior web developer for Choice, the reviews publication from the Association of College and Research Libraries. At Glitterati Incorporated, Conor Romack has been promoted to sales & projects manager. In the UK, Simon Thorogood will move to Canongate from Headline as editorial director at the end of August, and Hannah Knowles will join the publisher as senior commissioning editor in November (she is currently at Octopus). Weston Woods Studios founder Morton […]
People
Keely Kundell has joined Harlequin as editorial coordinator. Victoria Britton has joined Harlequin UK as commissioning editor (she was editor and heritage manager at Smythson of Bond Street); and Lucy Gough been promoted to assistant managing editor. Hannah Elnan has been promoted to senior editor at Sasquatch Books.