Every time Amazon opens a new bookstore they invite the local press to a preview and receive glowing write-ups that all read pretty much the same as the stories that ran in the previous cities. But the opening of their first New York City store on Thursday at Columbus Circle, a modest 4,000-square-foot space with 3,000 titles, means that those preview pieces are from national news organizations. (Reportedly, 20 percent of that space is devoted to Amazon’s devices.) So once again we hear how the company says they are using data to drive obvious decisions that regular booksellers have already […]
Archives for May 2017
NEH Chair Resigns As Organization is Forced to Budget For Its Closure
NEH chairman William D. Adams resigned on Tuesday after less than three years leading the organization. With funding recently reaffirmed for the current fiscal year, Adams was able to say in his statement, “We’re encouraged that Congress and the President increased our funding for the current year and that the White House has initiated the process of bringing new political appointees to the agency. Deputy chair Margaret Plympton will serve as acting chair. At the same time, however, the organization was forced to submit a fiscal 2018 budget appropriations request that asks Congress for a pared down $42 million “to begin […]
People, Etc.
CBS chief executive Les Moonves, 67, has extended his contract and is now expected to run the company through June 2021 — after which he can serve as a senior adviser for five years, with an option to set up a production company with CBS’s support. Chip Rolley joined PEN America as director of the PEN World Voices Festival, and also serves as senior director of literary programs. Most recently he was artistic director of the Sydney Writers’ Festival. Abigail Welhouse has been promoted to senior publicist for Scott Manning & Associates. In the UK, Harim Yim and Rachel Richardson have […]
People, Etc.
At Doubleday, John Pitts has been promoted to vice president and executive director of marketing. Judy Jacoby has been named vice president and creative marketing director. Lauren Weber has been promoted to assistant marketing director, while Sarah Engelmann moves up to marketing manager. Michael Barrs will join Hachette Books as marketing director starting May 30. Most recently, he was marketing director for Dey Street Books. Betsy Hulsebosch‘s role as marketing director will now be devoted to the Black Dog & Leventhal list. In promotions at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Cheryl Dickemper moves up to director of school supply and reference sales, while Olivia Wilson is […]
Picks: Library Reads, and More
Anthony Horowitz’s Magpie Murders tops the June Library Reads list. The novel is also excerpted in our Buzz Books 2017: Spring/Summer sampler, available for download now. The rest of the list features: Silver Silence, by Nalini Singh The Waking Land, by Callie Bates Down Among The Sticks And Bones, by Seanan McGuire Do Not Become Alarmed, by Maile Meloy The Alice Network, by Kate Quinn The Child, by Fiona Barton The Little French Bistro, by Nina George The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid Midnight At The Bright Ideas Bookstore, by Matthew Sullivan Target announced its book club selections […]
Bookselling Briefs: Amazon 13, Helping Carmichael’s, and More
Amazon has leased its 13th known bookstore in a 5,227-square-foot space in Westfield Century City Mall in Los Angeles, according to permits filed earlier this month. (Word of a fourteenth store in Georgetown has been reported informally by the landlord but not the company.) Amazon has not formally announced the store, or provided a date for its opening. Author of The Rap Year Book Shea Serrano, practicing random acts of kindness online, asked his 135,000 Twitter followers to order books online from Carmichael’s Bookstore in Louisville, KY. In a little over 5 hours they exceeded the goal of 1,000 orders in a day. Co-owner Carol Besse […]