As expected if you were following along during The Trial, Judge Florence Pan issued a brief order late Monday blocking Penguin Random House’s acquisition of Simon & Schuster. “Upon review of the extensive record and careful consideration of the parties’ arguments, the Court finds that the United States has shown that ‘the effect of [the proposed merger] may be substantially to lessen competition’ in the market for the U.S. publishing rights to anticipated top-selling books. Accordingly, judgment shall be entered in favor of the Plaintiff and the merger shall be enjoined.” For more details from the judge’s extensive opinion, everyone […]
Archives for October 2022
People 10/31
Morgan Hillman has joined Holiday House, Peachtree, and Pixel+Ink as sales director.
Obituary: Thomas Cahill
Irish scholar Thomas Cahill, 82, who wrote How the Irish Saved Civilization, which spent almost two years on the New York Times bestseller list, died on October 18 of a heart attack.
HBG Employees Oppose Return-to-Office Plan; Pietsch Responds
On Friday evening October 28, a group of more than 200 HBG employees—from entry level to directors—sent a letter to ceo Michael Pietsch and members of the Office Reopening Taskforce, opposing the company’s return-to-office mandate, slated to begin November 1. (The company has 1600 employees total.) The hybrid plan requires employees to work from the office two specific days per week. Hachette has been in a pilot period for six months, in which employees could decide to return to the office or defer. “During these six months, those who wished to be in office went in, collaborated in person and […]
Bookselling: Barnes & Noble Opens New Riverhead, NY Location
On Wednesday, November 2, Barnes & Noble will open a new store in Riverhead, NY, in the Riverhead Shopping Center, “the first new Barnes & Noble to open on Long Island in 14 years.” Most recent BN “openings” have been for replacement stores. In this case, they are serving a community that last had a chain bookstore in 2011, when Borders liquidated in 2011.
HQN Books Relaunches as Canary Street Press
Harlequin’s flagship romance imprint HQN is relaunching as Canary Street Press (named for Toronto’s Canary District, a historic area in downtown that has undergone a renewal), and “reflecting its expansion to publish a greater variety of modern, commercial love stories.” They write in a release that they plan to publish in trade paperback and hardcover formats, as well as mass market paperbacks. The first title under the rebranded imprint will be NEVER NEVER by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher, available in a trade print edition for the first time, releasing in February 2023. Loriana Sacilotto, evp and publisher of Harlequin […]