After a rough pandemic, a cyber attack that shut down digital and in-store operations in 2023, and turnover in its executive ranks, Indigo CEO Heather Reisman noted in a podcast taping that the company has had a “tough four years,” the Canadian Press reports. Reisman stepped back from the company’s CEO role in 2022 and retired last year, a “wrong decision” that she said cost the company $120 million (CA). She said that the pandemic cost Indigo $160 million (CA) in cash, and the combined hit took a toll on the chain. “That’s a lot of money for any retail […]
Archives for July 2024
Former Hachette UK Executive Doyle Files Discrimination Complaint
Ursula Doyle, former publisher of Hachette UK’s Fleet imprint, has filed a discrimination complaint against the company. On a fundraising page for legal fees, Doyle explains that she resigned after facing online harassment from colleagues for publishing Kathleen Stock’s 2020 “gender critical” book Material Girls. Doyle writes that she was a “target for abuse by colleagues in the book industry, who have used social media to accuse me of – among other things – bigotry, prejudice, transphobia and hatred, often tagging in my employer, Hachette, and Hachette’s Pride network.” According to Doyle, a hearing will take place in August. Doyle […]
Forthcoming: New Zora Neale Hurston Novel
Amistad will publish a previously unpublished Zora Neale Hurston novel, THE LIFE OF HEROD THE GREAT, on January 7, 2025, Hurston’s birthday. Scholar and literary critic Deborah Plant, who introduced Hurston’s book Barraccoon when it was published in 2018, will contextualize the novel. The new novel, which Hurston was working when she died, portrays the life of Herod the Great in first century Judea. The publisher writes, “Hurston’s Herod challenges the New Testament version of the tyrant who supposedly ordered the deaths of many children in order to save the Christ-child, as recorded in the book of Matthew, by suggesting […]
Audible Launches New Royalties Model
Audible announced a new model for paying authors and publishers, that will allow titles in all Audible’s membership offerings to earn royalties. They write, “Now more titles—including those currently in Audible Plus, Audible’s all-you-can-listen offering—can generate royalty payments.” The way the royalties will be calculated is as follows: “Audible takes a member’s plan value (Plus or Premium Plus) and adds the value of any additional credits used, then divides that value among the titles the member listened to over the course of the month. That figure, multiplied by the contractual royalty rate, comprises a creator’s royalty payment.” Additionally, Audible will […]