Simon & Schuster imprint Scout Press has won the auction for a short story collection, YOU KNOW YOU WANT THIS, and a novel by Kristen Roupenian, whose story “Cat Person” went viral earlier this month and became the New Yorker’s second-most-read article for all of 2017. Executive editor Alison Callahan acquired Roupenian’s collection and novel from Jenni Ferrari-Adler at Union Literary in a major deal, for seven figures (in excess of $1.2 million, according to multiple sources). UK rights to the story collection sold to Jonathan Cape in a pre-empt last Wednesday, and the US auction carried over to this week. Subsequent […]
Archives for December 2017
People, Etc.
Michelle R. Ferguson joined Abrams on December 18 in the new role of senior vice president and chief operating officer. Most recently she was svp of workplace strategies for McGraw-Hill. Abrams president and ceo Michael Jacobs said, “Michelle is both a consummate professional and a personable, down-to-earth problem-solver with lots of energy and the desire to both teach and learn. The drive and the passion she’ll bring to Abrams will be a real asset to the company as we continue to evolve.” Distribution Ampersand will distribute Canadian northwest coast regional publisher Hancock House Publishers. Simon & Schuster will distribute Pike and Powder Publishing Group, […]
Media-Participations to Acquire La Martiniere Group Following Goverment Approval
On Monday France’s competition authority officially “cleared” the proposed deal for media company Media-Participations (which specializes in comics and graphic novels, but also publishes magazines, has a film/tv production arm, and a digital media group focused on videogames) to acquire French book publisher La Martiniere Group (which also owns Abrams in the US). The Autorité de la concurrence “considered that the transaction would not be liable to harm competition,” noting “the limited nature of the positions held by the Média-Participations group and La Martinière Groupe in all the affected markets. It also took into consideration the significant competitive pressure that France’s principal […]
The Days Ahead: Bloomsbury’s Newton Speaks to the End of Exclusivity for UK Publishers In Europe
We’ve said it since it the United Kingdom first voted to exit the European Union in mid-2016 and now for the first time a UK-based trade publishing executive is saying it out loud, on the record. When Britain completes its withdrawal from the EU, expected to begin in 2019, UK publishers face losing their exclusive domain over exporting English-language books to continental Europe. Bloomsbury chief executive Nigel Newton (who is American but based in London) tells the Guardian: “Quite often now, a British publisher of a work will have exclusive rights in Europe – because Britain is part of Europe. […]
Abrams Continues to Pare BNED Stake; Amazon Stores for Germany?
Investor David Abrams and Abrams Capital Management took advantage of the opportunity to pare back on their money-losing investments in Barnes & Noble companies. With the rebound in shares of Barnes & Noble Education starting on December 5 as the retailer reported some improvement in profits, Abrams has been a steady seller. According to recent filings, Abrams sold good-sized chunks of BNED shares on December 5, 6, 7, 11, 12 and 13, unloading approximately 1.76 million shares in all. Even with the recent increases, BNED’s stock price is still down about 25 percent for the year, and likely all of […]
A Season of Sales at Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster ceo Carolyn Reidy’s year-end letter to employees celebrates “an enormously gratifying year,” with numerous successes in sales and awards. “I am pleased to report that all the big books we hoped would perform well were, indeed, big.” Beyond the big new titles, Reidy observes, “there has been a marked trend among readers to purchase the tried and true, and we had the backlist to meet that demand.” In topical issues, this year Reidy celebrates having “made great progress in our efforts to increase diversity in both our staffing and publishing.” The Salaam Reads imprint launched in February, […]