The Book Industry Study Group convened their annual members meeting in New York — and marked their 40th anniversary — after an admittedly “tough year” with enthusiastic anticipation for incoming executive director Brian O’Leary and a new strategic plan to execute. Treasurer and new board chair Maureen McMahon of Kaplan presented the budget and revealed some of the challenges the organization has faced, with a change to accrual accounting and problems with their membership database management leading to a significant net loss of roughly $240,000 (on expenditures of $1.304 million) in the previous fiscal year, now rebalanced in the unaudited […]
Archives for September 2016
People, Etc.
At Workman, Kate Travers has been promoted to director, digital business and operations, overseeing all e-commerce and merchandising efforts related to Workman.com and PageADay.com, as well as acting as the liaison to all divisions and distribution partners for merchandising and promotional opportunities. Travers reports to Andrea Flack-Nisbet, while Anthony Foti will now report to Travers. Steven Whitener has been named manager, digital operations & analytics, while Cialina Temena-Husemann has been promoted to assistant manager, web operations. Finally, Allison Huggins has been promoted to international rights manager, reporting to Kristina Peterson. Nicole Chung has joined Catapult as managing editor of its […]
AAP April Report: As Expected, The Digital Decline Continues
The AAP reported their monthly StatShot statistics for April. Per our long look at the reliability of these monthly tabulations, our main monthly takeaway is on the digital data. Adult ebook sales of $85.2 million were down $23.9 million compared to a year ago; children’s ebook sales were $8.4 million, down from $11.7 million a year ago; and digital audio was $19.1 million, growing $3.3 million from 2015. Total digital sales registered $112.7 million — compared to $136.6 million a year ago. Bear in the mind that on a comparative basis, ebook sales are expected to keep falling at least through September […]
Awards: 5 Under 35 Honorees; Aspen Words Literary Prize
The National Book Foundation named their list of 5 Under 35 honorees Thursday morning: Brit Bennett, The Mothers (Riverhead) Yaa Gyasi, Homegoing (Knopf) Greg Jackson, Prodigals (FSG) S. Li, Transoceanic Flights (Harvard Square Editions) Thomas Pierce, Hall of Small Mammals (Riverhead) The Aspen Institute is launching a $35,000 annual Aspen Words Literary Prize, recognizing “an influential work of fiction that focuses on vital contemporary issues.” Submissions for books published in English in 2017 that address questions of violence, inequality, gender, the environment, immigration, religion, race, or other social issues will open early next, and the first award will be presented in New York […]
People, Etc.
Will Lippincott is leaving Lippincott Massie McQuilkin at the end of the year, writing that he is “eager to find new paths—in life, certainly, and in what I want to achieve professionally.” He notes, “If there’s a through-line to my own narrative in publishing and media over twenty years it’s found in my love of great storytelling. This passion gives me purpose, and I’m ready to explore new ways of creating visibility for authors and causes.” As of January 1, the agency will become Massie McQuilkin & Co. Miles Doyle has been promoted to senior editor at Harper One. At HarperCollins France, […]
Redstones Tell CBS and Viacom to Consider Merging
The Redstone family’s privately-held National Amusements, which controls nearly 80 percent of the voting shares in both CBS and Viacom, sent a letter Thursday morning to the boards of the two entertainment companies telling them “to consider a potential combination of the companies.” First reported as forthcoming by Reuters on Wednesday afternoon, shares of both companies jumped on the news, with CBS closing the day up 4 percent, and Viacom rising 2.7 percent. (CBS was up again in early Thursday trading; this is contrary to the initial Wall Street wisdom that had a merger adding more value to the beaten down Viacom.) CBS […]