The bankruptcy auction for F+W Media’s 10 communities has yielded a total of $7.45 million, with the winning bids going before the court for approval later on Monday. Niche magazine publisher Cruz Bay Publishing, a subsidiary of the sizable Active Interest Media, is paying a total of $1.725 million to acquire the writing community, which comprises Writer’s Digest (bought for $200,000), as well as the woodworking, family tree, horticulture. and collectibles communities. The signature crafts community is being sold for $2.85 million to Macanta Investments. As we reported last week, Penguin Random House paid $3 million in cash plus percentages […]
Archives for June 2019
People, Etc.
Neil Olson has joined Massie & McQuilkin. Previously he ran Donadio & Olson, which filed for bankruptcy liquidation last December in the wake of significant embezzlement by the agency’s bookkeeper bookkeeper Darin Webb. Kara Rota will join Chicago Review Press as senior editor starting June 17. Obituary Knopf director of publicity for 37 years before his retirement in 2002 Bill Loverd, 78, died Thursday at home in New Jersey of cancer. The publisher writes: “Loverd was the very embodiment of the House of Knopf. He was a gentleman in every way, but he was also someone who demanded perfection. He […]
Waiting for Readerlink, Investor Agitates and Barnes & Noble Shares Ebb
In the absence of real news about bidding for Barnes & Noble, agitator and modest BN investor Richard Schottenfeld filed paperwork with the SEC in which he asks for a better price than the $6.50 a share deal with Elliott Advisors. The stake controlled by Schottenfeld and related investors is down to under 2.5 million shares, or about 3.4 percent of the company. The statement expresses “the view that the Company is worth considerably more than the agreed-upon sale price,” and they “believe that the special committee, including its Chairman, Mark Carlton, has failed in its duty to maximize value […]
HMH Recalls and Postpones Wolff Book; Lawsuit Shines Harsh Light On Sparks
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is withdrawing the inventory of Naomi Wolf’s OUTRAGES from accounts and has postponed the planned June 18 release. The book was revealed to have some foundational research errors in a BBC interview a couple of weeks ago. The publisher told the NYT, “As we have been working with Naomi Wolf to make corrections to Outrages, new questions have arisen that require more time to explore. We are postponing publication and requesting that all copies be returned from retail accounts while we work to resolve those questions.” Wolf tells the newspaper the recall is contrary to her wishes: […]
People, Etc.
At Little Brown UK, Clare Smith moves up to executive publisher, literary, on July 1. The publishers of the Little, Brown/Abacus, Corsair, Dialogue Books, Fleet and Virago imprints will report to her. Alexa von Hirschberg will move to Faber in September, to fill the vacant slot as head of the Faber Social music list, reporting to Alex Bowler. At Chronicle Books, Evelyn Furuta has been hired as designer, entertainment (she was a graphic designer at Insight Editions); and Caitlin Kirkpatrick has been promoted to editor, art. At Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Tom Kruse joined the company as head of store sales and operations […]
People, Etc.
At Simon & Schuster, Allison Stegeland has been promoted to the newly created position of international sales manager. Shannon Grant joins the independent sales team as field sales account manager for the Southern California and Arizona region as well as select educational jobbers. She was previously senior children’s book buyer at Books Inc. Gabrielle Greco becomes telesales manager, starting June 17. Melissa Hurt joins as telesales manager, effective June 24. She was previously sales support coordinator for special markets at Harper Collins. Kristen Bianco has been promoted to associate publicist for Algonquin Books and Algonquin Children’s. Morgan Hoit will join […]