Lara Blackman will join Simon & Schuster Audio next month in the new position of senior acquisitions editor, original audio, reporting to Tom Spain. She was most recently at Audible.
Archives for March 2022
Bookselling: B&N Cheyenne to Move to Unknown Location
The Barnes & Noble in Cheyenne, WY will move to a temporary location in Frontier Mall this Spring, and a permanent location next year. The last day at its current address is May 15, and store manager Gage Nix told Cap City News that the store doesn’t yet know where in the mall the temporary location will be. In a letter posted throughout the current location, the store said, “the landlord has made the decision to redevelop the space and has opted not to renew our lease.” As with other B&N moves, the letter asks for location ideas to be emailed […]
Follett Letter Urging Librarians to “Come Together” Sparks Online Controversy
Further to yesterday’s story on the new tools Follett Learning is developing for its Destiny software to enable customers to comply with recent “parents’ rights bills,” the company posted a letter on LinkedIn from ceo of content Britten Follett explaining the company’s actions and inviting librarians to a live web chat on Monday, April 4, at 5pm ET. The letter was met with criticism from librarians online, who expressed concern that tools allowing parental oversight of school library withdrawals are unethical and will harm children. Follett writes that this is “an extremely difficult time in education” and the company is […]
Backlist Lifted Penguin Random House Sales In 2021
Bertelsmann reported financial results for 2021, with Penguin Random House showing increased revenues and operating results “thanks to numerous successful new releases, robust backlist sales and continued high demand for digital audiobooks.” Sales were €4.03 billion, up 6 percent from €3.802 in 2020. Operating EBITDA was €755 million compared to €691 million, a 9.2 percent increase. The company noted, “In addition to the recovery of the advertising-financed businesses, the positive performance of the book publishing and services businesses was a key factor in this strong revenue growth.” US-based sales were €2.275 billion, up €67 million. (That growth is made smaller […]
All About NFTs: Brian Ferrin, former HarperCollins VP, on Discuss
Join Discuss online at this Publishers Marketplace link Wednesday, April 6 at noon Eastern when former VP of marketing at HarperCollins will answer questions such as: What’s an NFT? What’s all the fuss? Are NFTs just another bubble? What’s the future of NFTs? What are the opportunities for authors? (And what are the risks?) Can other authors do what Gary Vaynerchuk did? (Buy 12 Books, Get an NFT: How One Author Got Orders for a Million Books – WSJ) What are some successful author initiatives with NFTs to date? How can NFTs establish direct, re-marketable connections between authors and readers? To […]
People 3/30
Danny Vazquez has been promoted to senior editor at Astra House.