After a tumultuous week of stories that do not fully align, Penguin Random House UK and the two unions representing some of their employees are talking again, and reporting progress towards a new agreement. On Wednesday, PRH UK and the unions Unite and the National Union of Journalists issued a joint statement saying that they “held a positive meeting today at which all parties agreed to continue talks with the aim of securing a new collective agreement for the combined Penguin Random House UK business. While some elements of the agreement in discussion are yet to be finalized and agreed […]
Archives for December 2016
In July, AAP Trade Dollars Shifted from Adult Hardcovers to New Potter
Still running behind, the AAP issued their monthly StatShot statistics for July 2016 — aka the month when Harry Potter and the Cursed Child shipped into stores and went on sale (on July 31). We’ve known since three months ago from Scholastic’s public reporting that the new Potter release helped lift the company’s US trade division sales by just under $70 million, and indeed the July AAP stats show children’s hardcover sales for the month rising by $52.9 million compared to a year ago. But the AAP breakdowns also show that the Potter gain was more of a movement of inventory dollars […]
People
Scholastic has hired Kiffin Steurer as managing editor for Klutz (he was at Harper Children’s), Chloe Fraboni as editor, licensed publishing. (she was at Simon & Schuster Children’s); and Kirk Benshoff as art director for readers, branches and nonfiction (he was at HBG). In promotions: Erin McMahon is now senior designer, licensed publishing; Emily Feliberty moved up to associate director of marketing and publicity for Klutz; Jenna Ballard is now associate editor, licensed publishing; Brooke Shearouse moves up to publicist; Hillary Doyle and Emily Clement are both work working as rights manager; Milena Giunco is publicity coordinator; Christine Reedy is marketing coordinator; and Courtney DeVerges is now sales coordinator for Klutz.
People
Laura Donnini has been named managing director and publisher of Harper Italia, effective February 1, 2017, responsible for the “day-to-day management of operations, establishing strategic and publishing direction, and for driving business expansion in Italy.” She will take over from Paola Ronchi, who “recently made the decision to leave the company after a successful nine year career with Harlequin/Harper.” Most recently, Donnini was ceo of Rizzoli’s RCS Libri. Harper ceo Brian Murray says in the announcement, “I am delighted that Laura is joining HarperCollins Italia. Her prior experience at Harlequin, Mondadori and Rizzoli makes her uniquely qualified to grow our […]
The Best of Buzz Books
We’re closing in our final, aggregated lists of the very best of the best books of 2016. But first, it’s worth a special shout out to the 25 titles receiving at least one major “best of 2016” vote that were first featured long before publication in one of our two Buzz Books 2016 adult samplers. Nearly one in three Buzz Books ranks among the best of the year (and many of the others hit bestseller lists as well), and 10 titles were among the consensus most notable books of 2016. We’ll be back in early 2017 to announce the first […]
Muted Greetings From Dohle, and A Lump of Coal As PRH UK Breaks Off with Unions
Penguin Random House ceo Markus Dohle dispatched a modest letter of holiday greetings to employees last Thursday (this year with no video accompaniment) that reaffirms the company’s fundamental mission without dwelling on any of the year’s particulars: “What a year this has been. As Penguin Random House, we managed changes, we took on challenges, and from them both we created opportunities to better serve our authors, our retail partners, our readers, and one another. Personally, this year gave me the chance to reflect upon the inextricable link between the work we do and the world we live in. In light […]