Sweden’s Grand Agency has acquired competitor Stockholm Noir Agency (founded late last year) and SNA’s ceo Jenni Brunn will now work as an agent at Grand Agency. Brittany Boughter has joined Chronicle Books as marketing manager, entertainment and art. Most recently, she was digital marketing manager at Penguin Random House UK. Carolyn Cox has joined Open Road as editor of The Portalist, a new online community for fans of science fiction, fantasy, and genre-related pop culture news. Cox was previously an editor at the pop culture website The Mary Sue, and reports to Betsy Mitchell. Distribution & Sales Effective January 2, 2017, Baker & Taylor’s recently-formed Global […]
Archives for October 2016
Hoffman’s Faithful Tops November Library Reads List
Alice Hoffman’s new novel Faithful is the no. 1 pick for the November Library Reads List. The rest of the list includes: The Fate of the Tearling, by Erika Johansen (Harper) Night School, by Lee Child (Delacorte) When All the Girls Have Gone, by Jayne Ann Krentz (Berkley) I’ll Take You There, by Wally Lamb (Harper) Swing Time, by Zadie Smith (Penguin Press) Victoria: The Queen, by Julia Baird (Random House) Moonglow, by Michael Chabon (Harper) Normal, by Warren Ellis (FSG Originals) Orphans of the Carnival, by Carol Birch (Doubleday)
Rumblings of Kindle Limitations for Self-Published Authors
The latest Author Earnings report is surprised to find declining sales of self-published books in their October survey, as traditional publishers registered small gains and Amazon Publishing continues its steady rise. In the measure that publishers follow — gross ebook dollar sales — AE found traditional publishers with about 65 percent of Kindle revenues, and Amazon Publishing at about 10 percent of sales. They put self-published authors at just under 20 percent of sales (down from 25 percent in the last two surveys earlier in 2016) and “uncategorized single-author publisher” sales at just above 5 percent. And those figures include […]
Book Sales Continue Modest Decline at WH Smith, As Profits Improve
UK-based WH Smith reported annual results through August 31, declaring what passes for “another good performance” at their High Street stores — which means trading profit there grow £3 million to £62 million, even as sales continued to ebb. Total sales in the division fell 3 percent and same-store sales declined 2 percent, even with the launch of the Zoella Book Club and the popularity of “color therapy” books, which “were a key driver of sales.” But book sales still feel 2 percent on a same-store-basis, with stationery sales rising and a growing initiative to install actual Post Offices inside the stores. They note that “kids book sales […]
People, Etc.
Theresa Thompson has been promoted to president at Sterling Publishing, which she has run since 2012 as executive vice president (following the departure of Marcus Leaver, and B&N’s withdrawn effort to sell the publisher). She is responsible for the management of the company, both creatively and operationally, and will oversee many areas of the business, including operations, finance, book production and manufacturing. Thompson has worked for parent company Barnes & Noble since 2003, when she ran the audiobook business. At Avery, Anne Kosmoski is promoted to associate director of publicity, while Casey Maloney moves up to assistant publicity director. In […]
Bob Dylan Wins the Nobel Literature Prize
The Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded on Thursday to singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, the first American to win the prize in more than two decades since Toni Morrison won in 1993 — and the surprise culmination of years of far-out betting speculation. The Swedish Academy commended Dylan “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition,” while secretary Sara Danils later added, for those expressing surprise at their choice, that “if you look far back, 5000 years, you discover Homer and Sappho. They wrote poetic texts which were meant to be performed, and it’s the same way […]