NY Magazine looks at “Book Publishing’s No Good, Very Good Year of Trump” for their best of 2018 package. Fortunately, PW debated making Donald Trump their “person of the year,” they report, but realized that would be a mistake: “We were afraid that no matter how we explained it, if we put him on the cover, it would look like Publishers Weekly had endorsed Trump.” (I can tell you now that here at PL we’ll be calling it the Year of the Asterisk, but we won’t explain that for a while.) Holt president and publisher Steve Rubin says he has […]
Archives for December 2018
People, Etc.
Arcadia Publishing coo Paul Raffle has stepped down from his position, succeeded by former Perseus Books Group coo Charles Gallagher. Lezen Acquisition bought the company back in May and Raffle had agreed to stay on through the transition, and he will consult on a part-time basis going forward. Gallagher has been consulting for Arcadia for six months, and has relocated to Charleston, SC. Arcadia ceo (and former Perseus ceo alongside Gallagher) David Steinberger said in a letter to staff, “Paul has been true to his word, and over the past months has worked very hard and very effectively to position Arcadia […]
People, Etc.
Alexa Pastor has been promoted to editor for Atheneum. Ashley Vanicek has been promoted to PR specialist at Amazon Publishing, supporting Lake Union Publishing and Thomas & Mercer. Mark Weinstein has joined Diversion Books as senior editor. He was previously an executive editor at Rodale Books, Staci Burt has joined Grand Central as publicity manager. She was previously at St. Martin’s. Hannah Zirkler joined the Marianne Schönbach Literary Agency in the Netherlands as literary agent/executive assistant. Forthcoming Kate Atkinson will publish BIG SKY, her first Jackson Brodie novel since 2010 next year in June with Doubleday UK and Transworld.
One Wholesaler to Rule Them All? Ingram Reportedly Looking at Baker & Taylor Acquisition
The Federal Trade Commission is reportedly conducting a “preliminary nonpublic investigation” about booksellers’ use of major wholesalers, Shelf Awareness reports, and telling some interview subjects that the queries are related to the possibility of Ingram acquiring Baker & Taylor. One person interviewed characterized it as a “fact finding” mission to investigate the effects of a consolidation that would leave the industry with a single major wholesaler, servicing both retail and library markets. ABA CEO Oren Teicher said, “To our knowledge, there has never been an instance in the book business when the elimination of competition–and a further concentration of decision-making in fewer hands–has […]
Barnes & Noble Education Shares Fall Hard On Poor Quarter
Barnes & Noble Education underperformed again, with second quarter sales falling 8.1 percent to $815 million, and investors headed straight for the door. Ninety minutes after the market opening, shares were down approximately 28 percent, to about $4.60 a share, which would be a new all-time low for the stock if it holds. (At that price, the market cap is around $209 million.) Sales at the College stores declined $54.4 million, with comparable store sales down 5.6 percent, “primarily due to lower textbook sales.” Sales from net new stores (new stores less closed stores) declined by $15.2 million, compared to an increase […]
More Bests (Goodread, NYT Critics, New Yorker) and the First of the Best of the Best Books of 2018
The “best books” lists are arriving in a wave: The New York Times their individual critics’ favorite books of the year — books editor and staff writer John Williams writes, “If we had to use a single word to describe the past year in books, it might be eclectic” — and Janet Maslin is still contributing her own ten favorites. Dwight Garner’s list includes Sheila Heti’s Motherhood and Ottessa Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation, both excerpted in our Buzz Books 2018 Spring/Summer sampler. Elsewhere, there are Katy Waldman’s picks at the New Yorker and Entertainment Weekly‘s top 10; best of 2018 packages from Apple […]