Mark Smith is stepping down as ceo of Bonnier Zaffre at the end of July and has sold his equity stake. Smith has been with the company since 2014. While Bonnier looks for a successor, executive director of adult publishing Kate Parkin, executive director of children’s publishing Jane Harris, and executive director of sales and marketing James Horobin will fill in, reporting to Bonnier Publishing UK ceo Perminder Mann. Smith said, “The last three and a half years at Bonnier Zaffre, working with the brilliant team in Marylebone to build a commercial fiction company that covers both children’s and adult, has been […]
Archives for July 2018
KKR Acquires RBmedia
Investment firm KKR has acquired audiobook powerhouse RBmedia (previously known as Recorded Books) from Shamrock Capital. The financial details of the sale were not disclosed, though as one of the largest private equity firms with assets under management of over $150 billion, KKR focuses on investments of scale. With a catalog of 35,000 published audiobook titles across multiple imprints, RBmedia calls itself the largest independent audiobook publisher in the world. They offer audio titles from multiple publishers to consumers through Audiobooks.com by subscription, and provide a broader catalog of digital content to libraries through the RBDigital platform. Tom MacIsaac, president […]
Picks: Another Barack Obama Reading List; August Library Reads
Barack Obama posted another summer reading list in advance of his trip to Africa. The list of mostly African authors includes: Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe A Grain of Wheat, by Ngugi wa Thiong’o Long Walk to Freedom, by Nelson Mandela Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie The Return, by Hisham Matar The World As It Is, by Ben Rhodes Separately, Vox by Christina Dalcher is the top pick for the August’s Library Reads list. Also on the list are Louise Candlish Our House and Kristan Higgins’s Good Luck with That, both excerpted in our Buzz Books 2018 Spring/Summer sampler and available to download now. The rest […]
People
Eamon Dolan is leaving Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, where he was vp, editorial director of Eamon Dolan Books, after seven years with the company (as well as an earlier stint, when he was editor-in-chief of HMH), upon the news that his imprint is being eliminated. HMH svp, publisher Bruce Nichols said in a statement to PL: “To meet the needs of our changing marketplace, we often must make tough business decisions, including the choice to wind down Eamon Dolan Books. Eamon has been a wonderful colleague and friend. We thank him for his many contributions and wish him the best in his next […]
Briefs: Quarto Reshuffles Board; Rowman & Littlefield Acquires Pineapple Press; and More
Quarto has reshuffled its board of directors just two months after Laurence Orbach was reinstalled himself as executive chairman. Orbach will now step down from that position to become a non-executive director, while Andy Cumming, who joined Quarto’s board in March after 17 years at Lloyds, is promoted to chairman and senior independent non-executive director. In addition, coo Ken Fund has also been appointed as executive director of the board. Acquisitions Rowman & Littlefield has acquired Pineapple Press, a Sarasota, Florida-based company specializing in “all things Florida”, including art, folklore, gardening, history, nature and travel. Pineapple Press, founded in 1982 […]
The Latest in Buzz Books: Romance
Following the successful launch of our Buzz Books 2018: Fall/Winter sampler and our dedicated Buzz Books 2018 Young Adult, our Buzz Books 2018: Romance collection returns for a third year. The sampler launches just in time for the Romance Writers of America annual conference (starting July 18 in Denver). Eight of our featured authors will be attending RWA, where the organizers are joining us in promoting the free downloads. From power players such as Judith McNaught, Jane Feather, and Karen Rose to fan favorites like Shelly Laurenston and Denise Hunter, these authors represent the best of romance. The titles on offer […]