Jennifer Sit has been promoted to executive editor at Clarkson Potter. Helen Garnons-Williams will join Penguin UK as publishing director for Fig Tree early next year. She is currently associate publisher at 4th Estate and William Collins. Jenna Jankowksi has been promoted to assistant editor at Sourcebooks. Former chief executive of Sage Paul Walker will take over as chair of Reed Elsevier some time in the first half of 2021, and Sir Anthony Habgood will step down from that role. Opening Sales Simon & Schuster says that Bob Woodward’s RAGE sold 600,000 units across all formats in its the first week on sale […]
Archives for September 2020
Indigo Store Employees Vote In Favor of Unionizing
Employees of Indigo’s Square One store, one of 39 locations of the chain in Mississauga, Ontario, voted to join the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union yesterday, with 23 votes in favor and 13 opposing. UFCW representative Kevin Shimmin told PL in an email, “We are so happy to welcome the Indigo workers at Square One in Mississauga to our union. This victory demonstrates the necessity and viability of organizing unions, especially right now during the pandemic. Health and safety in retail work is the spark that started this campaign. Workers, and their community supporters, understand unionization is the […]
As Qatar Switches Sides, A Majority of Shareholders Seek to Reseat Lagardere’s Board
Lagardere’s third-largest shareholder Qatar Holding indicated support for major dissidents Amber Capital and Vivendi in giving owners of the stock a meaningful stake in the company’s governance. While the statement issued Tuesday night in a “rare public incursion” from the Qatar Investment Authority stopped short of explicitly backing the push for a special shareholder meeting that is headed to court, the fund deems it “legitimate that all significant shareholders be fairly represented.” Together, Amber and Vivendi control 41.5 percent of shares, and Qatar owns a 13 percent stake, giving them a majority of the stock. CEO Arnaud Lagardere owns just […]
Workers in an Ontario Indigo Store to Finish Vote on Unionizing Today
Workers in Indigo’s Square One location in Ontario, Canada, will conclude voting today on whether to join the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union. The move came after a failed petition asking their employer to stop forcing them to clean customer bathrooms, which they saw as a Covid health and safety issue, according to Kevin Shimmin, a representative for UFCW Canada, interviewed by Quill & Quire. The high-profile, multilevel store re-opened in late June. Shimmin said that a winning vote would lead to a series of meetings to gather employee proposals, followed by negotiations with Indigo, a process that […]
More Data for More People
For over a year now we have offered agents and authors the ability to follow actual NPD Bookscan weekly sales reports for up to 5 ISBNs, through a monthly “data package” upgrade — at the lowest price ever provided for this kind of data access. Now we are able to provide this package to an expanded universe that covers most PublishersMarketplace.com members except for publishers (whom NPD services directly). Eligible PM members now include agents, authors, editorial services providers, film/tv people, independent publicists, packagers, and scouts. Meanwhile, NPD launched a new version of the Bookscan platform earlier this year that […]
New Books Publishing September 22
Today’s new releases include Jodi Picoult’s latest novel, and nonfiction from the late Elijah Cummings and H.R. McMaster. As in previous weeks, our sample Bookshop and Aerbook store carousels provide easy displays of books publishing today in need of attention and support, featuring: 9 new works of fiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-fiction-publishing-september-22 14 new nonfiction titles https://bookshop.org/lists/new-nonfiction-publishing-september-22 More new children’s and YA titles https://bookshop.org/lists/new-children-s-titles-publishing-in-september We consult a number of sources in compiling our weekly lists and PM members can see our lists for the coming three months through this reference page. But if you want to make sure your key titles are on our radar, now you can […]