Parkeast Literary Agency director Gloria Koehler has retired, and her duties have been outsourced to another firm. Donna Eastman will stay on as editorial director at Parkeast, and will continue to market its books. Koehler is cfo of Splinterfire, a family-oriented literary referral service she started with Donna Eastman. At Chronicle Books, Ariel Richardson has been promoted to editor, children’s. Lizzie Vaughn has joined as designer. Zak Nelson has joined Seattle-area Third Place Books and takes over as manager of events and marketing at the beginning of May. Most recently, he was a book reviewer for Shelf Awareness and a bookseller at Amazon Books. As planned, Wendy Ceballos […]
Archives for March 2017
Penguin Random House Sales Down Almost 10 Percent In 2016
Bertelsmann reported full results for 2016 on Tuesday morning, with sales at the Penguin Random House division falling 9.6 percent to €3,361 million (in line with the 10.7 percent decline they reported after the first six months of the year). Operating EBITDA was €537 million, compared to €557 million a year ago. (From here forward, we will refer to the PRH reporting division, which includes the separate Random House Germany, as PRH+, and will use PRH for just the Penguin Random House joint venture.) At Penguin Random House on its own, sales were €3,059 million, down €335 million, or 9.9 […]
People, Etc.
Michael Martens has joined IDW Publishing as director of trade sales, and will act as liaison with Penguin Random House Publisher Services when they take over distribution in April. Martens had been consulting on that relationship, and was previously vp of trade sales at Dark Horse Comics. Harper Christian has appointed Tim Marshall senior marketing director for Thomas Nelson and Zondervan Gift Books, reporting to Michael Aulisio. Previously, he was an independent marketing and brand consultant. By most standards Pearson ceo John Fallon should have been fired by now, given the company’s disastrous performance. Instead, he was awarded a 20 percent increase […]
People, Awards
At Chronicle Books, Viniita Moran has been promoted to senior web manager. Alina Buevich has been promoted to designer of marketing communications. Awards The New York Public Library announced the five finalists for the Young Lions Fiction Award: Clare Beams, We Show What We have Learned (Lookout Books) Brit Bennett, The Mothers (Riverhead) Kaitlyn Greenidge, We Love You Charlie Freeman (Algonquin) Nicole Dennis-Benn, Here Comes the Sun (Liveright) Karan Mahajan, The Association of Small Bombs (Penguin) The winners of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards are: Fiction: Peter Ho Davies, The Fortunes (HMH) Karan Mahajan, The Association of Small Bombs (Penguin) Nonfiction: Margot Lee Shetterly, Hidden Figures (Morrow) Poetry: Tyehimba Jess, Olio (Wave Books) […]
International: Quarto Sells Hong Kong Services, Storytel Expands, and More
Following the sale of their ANZ Books & Gifts Direct business earlier this year, Quarto is continuing to slim the non-publishing part of their portfolio. They will sell their 75 percent stake in Hong Kong-based Regent Printing Services to 1010 Printing Group for $7 million (which includes $2.5 million for Quarto’s share of the excess cash in the business). CEO Marcus Leaver says in the announcement, “We believe Quarto has a unique opportunity in our fragmented industry to become the dominant publisher of illustrated books globally. The sale of Regent will allow Quarto to focus fully on what it does best – to […]
Trade Sales Fall In Down Quarter for Scholastic
Scholastic reported lower sales and a higher seasonal loss for their fiscal third quarter, ending February 28, but the company said it “controlled costs effectively, protecting profits despite reduced sales in clubs.” Sales of $336 million were down by 8.2 percent ($30 million), on “lower revenues in book clubs and trade,” with an operating loss of $23.6 million — $7.2 million higher than a year ago. “Trade sales returned to more normal levels after an exceptional first half driven by new Harry Potter publishing,” the company said, though trade revenues were below the same point a year ago: At $49.2 million, trade […]