Archives for February 2024
Obituary: Ken Fund
Ken Fund, 65, former COO of The Quarto Group, died on February 22. Fund joined Quarto in 1999 as president and chief executive officer of subsidiary Rockport Publishers before heading the company’s US division for many years. He became COO in 2016 and joined the board as an executive director in 2018. The company writes: “Ken was a compassionate boss, valiant leader, and inspiring mentor, and felt like family to many at Quarto. Known for his business acumen and wicked sense of humor, Ken was passionate about his work and always willing to offer his opinion and guidance. Outside of […]
Publishing Diversifies Slightly in Race, Sexual Orientation, Disability
Lee & Low’s 2023 Diversity Baseline Survey shows “incremental” changes in publishing industry demographics in North America, with movement in the categories of race, sexual orientation, and disability. “Employers are routinely vociferous about their commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) initiatives without implementing the transparent means to monitor results,” they said. “We know institutional change takes time to bear fruit, which is why revisiting the survey every few years is so vital.” In racial makeup, 72.5 percent of respondents identify as white, down from 76 percent in 2019 and 79 percent in 2015. “There are many possible reasons for this change: […]
Simon & Schuster’s Last Public Result
There is a small addition to Simon & Schuster’s known results before going private late last year, following Paramount Global’s full-year earnings filing on Wednesday. For 30 days of October, Paramount indicates, S&S had sales of $101 million, and operating income of $18 million. That puts their publicly-released results for 10 months at sales of $958 million and operating income of $227 million. For the first three full quarters of the year, sales had been running just $6 million below their record year in 2022. For all of 2022, sales had reached $1.177 billion, up 18.5 percent, and operating income hit […]
People 2/28
At Crown, Arielle Pearl has been promoted to senior designer. Megan Westbrook has been promoted to project manager.
Author David Goggins Sues Amazon Over Counterfeit Copies
Author and former Navy Seal David Goggins is suing Amazon for selling counterfeit copies of his 2018 self-published book Can’t Hurt Me on its third party marketplace. In a suit filed on February 23 in the US District Court for the Western District of Seattle, Goggins alleges that the retailer knowingly sold bootleg copies of the book, as well as summaries that included Goggins’ images, and other products based on the book, despite Goggins’ repeated efforts to get the materials removed. According to the suit, Can’t Hurt Me has sold seven million copies to date. (Circana Bookscan has recorded US […]