Following the quick departure of chief merchandising officer Jackie De Leo earlier in the month, Barnes & Noble has laid off a number of veteran staff as part of a “realignment of our buying and campaigns teams.” Senior director, books Shannon DeVito wrote in an email, “The aim is to streamline our responsibilities and better focus our efforts to improve our bookselling. Unfortunately, this has meant that a number of colleagues have left the business as their roles were removed.” PL is aware of at least seven longtime buyers and publisher liaisons whose roles were eliminated. As of today’s newsletter […]
Archives for January 2025
Bookshop Launches Ebook Platform
Bookshop.org has launched an ebook platform at long last, allowing indie bookstores to sell ebooks directly from their websites or through Bookshop, retaining the full 30 percent commission that publishers provide to retailers. (As with print books, sales without a specified brick and mortar store will go into a pool that is distributed among the participating bookstores on the platform.) Three million titles are initially available from all the major publishers according to the release, and the company says it will add self-published “for authors publishing through Draft2Digital or IngramSpark” and more indie publishers in the future. Ebooks from the […]
Obituary: Morton Mint
Morton (Morty) Mint, 80, former president and ceo of Penguin Canada and president of Penguin USA, died on January 25. Mint left corporate publishing in the 90s to start his own publisher and Mint Literary Agency. His colleagues write, “His energy, drive, imagination, humour and huge enthusiasm and support for his authors and the local book scene changed lives remarkably… Morty lived with dementia for the last decade of his life and did so without complaint but with increasing sadness that he could no longer read books or absorb long articles.”
Full Circle: HMV Said to be Interested in WH Smith High Street Stores
HMV, the UK retailer that oversaw the near-death of Waterstones before selling the book chain in 2011 — and then went through two bankruptcy reorganizations — is now reported by the Sun to be “in discussions” about purchasing WH Smith’s high street stores. HMV is now owned by Doug Putman, a Canadian entrepreneur. Restructuring firms Hilco and Alteri and PE firm Modella Capital are also considered as likely bidders. The paper says, “The retail group has been in negotiations with several prospective buyers of the high street division for several weeks.” The Telegraph notes that “analysts have suggested the business, […]
Watch Louis Sachar and More From Our Editor and Author Panel
Last week we hosted another great Buzz Books panel, featuring authors Katie Yee, Nanda Reddy, Jefferson Fisher, Dennard Dale, and Louis Sachar along with their editors. You can watch each conversation here. And if you haven’t yet, be sure to check out these books and more in our Buzz Books 2025: Spring/Summer collection.
New Books Publishing January 28
Charmaine Wilkerson and Joseph Finder publish new novels this week, while new nonfiction includes work from Imani Perry, Chris Hayes, Lola Kirke and Reid Hoffman. Also out today are books by Neko Case, Susan Barker, and Kira Jane Buxton, all excerpted in our Buzz Books 2024: Fall/Winter sampler. 16 works of fiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-fiction-publishing-january-28 14 works of nonfiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-nonfiction-publishing-january-28 From Buzz Books https://buzz.publishersmarketplace.com/ We consult a number of sources in compiling our weekly lists and PM members can see our lists for the coming months on Bookshop. Check out January‘s 80 […]