As of April 1, Bertelsmann finalized their purchase of Pearson’s remaining 25 percent share of the Penguin Random House joint venture, for $675 million. (As a reminder, the enterprise value of that minority stake, including PRH’s debt, is $917.5 million.) Having paused a share buyback program that aimed to return some of that money to shareholders after spending £167 million, Pearson now says it “will retain the proceeds from the disposal…to further strengthen our short-term financial position” during the current crisis. Pearson previously held two seats on the PRH board, which are likely to be placed or retired. For now, […]
Archives for April 2020
People, Etc.
Cheryl Eissing has been promoted to associate editor at Philomel Books. Mary Moates has joined St. Martin’s/Wednesday Books as publicity manager. She was previously publicist at Random House. Ginny Dominguez has joined Macmillan Children’s as studio manager for the Roaring Brook Press, FSG, Feiwel and Friends, and Holt Children’s design team. She was previously a managing editor at Abrams. Bridget Kinsella has joined Stanford University Press as publicist. Most recently, she was publicity manager at Harper One. Distribution Status Hachette Book Group reports that their new operating model in the Lebanon, IN warehouse “incorporates social distancing while enabling us to […]
Takedown Emergency: An Internet Archive Shortcut (Now Updated for Agencies)
The Authors Guild has posted a template takedown notice that authors can send to the Internet Archive to have their books removed from the organization’s websites. Note, however, that the simplest and fastest route to have your books taken down is to message the IA’s Jason Scott, who is @textfiles on Twitter. (He has also appealed to the online mob to stop attacking authors who are concerned about protecting their intellectual property and livelihood: “One particular theme in the attacks is ridiculing the work of the authors, the books, and I wanted to beg people to stop doing that…. These […]
Briefs: Aid for Canadian Authors, Kobo Expands In Australia, Bertram’s Closes and More
The Writers’ Trust of Canada and The Writers’ Union of Canada (TWUC) created a Canadian Writers’ Emergency Relief Fund to support professional authors. The fund will distribute grants of $1,500 to “writers that have seen contracted or projected income evaporate due to the current public health crisis.” RBC joined the two organizations in funding the initial pool of $150,000. Rakuten Kobo has formed a joint venture with Australia’s largest online bookseller, Booktopia, to sell ebooks, digitial audiobooks, and ereading devices. In the UK, distributor Bertram’s has joined Gardner’s in temporarily suspending all operations, and the company is furloughing its staff, […]
HarperCollins to Acquire Egmont Books UK, Egmont’s Book Business in Poland, and Schneiderbuch Germany
HarperCollins will acquire Egmont Books UK, as well as Egmont’s book business in Poland and Schneiderbuch in Germany, in a deal that is set to close on April 30. (Those units are run out of Egmont Publishing, which also operates the company’s magazines, rather than the Egmont Books division, which focuses on Cappelen Damm in Norway and Lindhardt & Ringhof in Denmark.) (May 1, 2020 update: Harper UK has completed the acquisition, for an undisclosed sum.) Egmont Books UK will operate as a standalone children’s division, and will remain in its offices for now. Egmont UK managing director Cally Poplak […]
April Picks
Amazon‘s April Spotlight Pick is Ariel Lawhon’s Code Name Helene and their featured debut is Phuc Tran’s Sigh, Gone. Also on the list are Veronica Roth’s Chosen Ones and Elizabeth Wetmore’s Valentine, both excerpted and available for download in our Buzz Books 2020 Spring/Summer sampler. The rest of the April picks: Hidden Valley Road, by Robert Kolker Conjure Women, by Afia Atakore The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, by Grady Hendrix Pretty Things, by Janelle Brown How Much of These Hills Is Gold, by C Pam Zhang Three Hours in Paris, by Cara Black Barnes & Noble’s Books of […]