The Tennessean covers the folding of Cumberland House as Sourcebooks takes over rights to almost a hundred titles and absorbs three out of 20 employees. Sourcebooks owner Dominique Raccah tells the local Daily Herald “There’s a lot of opportunity in this market, but maybe I’m the only one who thinks that.” She adds, “We think this is a great environment for growth.” That paper says Raccah “has been in talks with three companies” about further acquisitions and is “also planning to hire three more employees, a salesperson in the Naperville office and acquisition editors in the company’s New York and […]
More Cuts at Random House
In the ongoing restructuring at Random House, Inc., additional positions have been eliminated at the Doubleday and Broadway imprints. We were told by one person of at least 6 job cuts, including four people from the art department and one from marketing. Crain’s asserts “22 positions were eliminated from the former Doubleday Broadway,” only citing “industry sources.” Spokesman David Drake confirmed for us “that a number of position across various functional areas have been eliminated and that these changes are a consequence of the restructuring at Random House that was announced two weeks ago.” He declined to address the number […]
Dohle: Rethinking and Reformulating for 2009
Random House ceo Markus Dohle pens his first “year-end letter” to employees. He calls it “a year of many publishing triumphs, and a year in which we have begun implementing a strategy and vision for our company that will enable us to come out ahead and build our business profitably amid an almost unprecedented economic downturn. Each of our divisions worldwide has been rethinking, and in some cases reformulating, what we must do to adapt to the changing ways our books are being ordered and sold by our retailers and distributors and purchased and read by consumers. We have faced […]
Scholastic's Sales Hold Up As Earnings Fall
In Scholastic’s [SCHL] fiscal second quarter, the company reported sales of $661.6 million, down $27 million overall (or a little under 4 percent), though just a 1 percent decline in revenue from continuing operations. But adjusted earnings were 40 cents a share lower than analysts were expecting and the company revised its earnings guidance from continuing operations for the fiscal year downward to $1.20 to $1.50 per share from $1.75 to $2.10 per share. The stock was trading significantly lower this morning as a result. They also announced a reduction in their spending plan for the balance of fiscal 2009 […]
People, and More
Picking his top ten works of fiction for the year, reviewer Michael Upchurch tells readers “this will be one of my last columns as Seattle Times book critic. Due to changes at the newspaper, I’m moving to a more general arts beat. I plan still to weigh in on books now and then, but it won’t be with the intensity of the past 10 years. (Make that 22, if you count my freelance efforts.)” At Tuttle Publishing, Christopher Johns has been promoted to sales and marketing director. The Music Sales Group has started using Midpoint Trade Books as their distributor, […]
USA Today Honors
The newspaper forsakes a “book of the year” to pick Stephenie Meyer as their author of the year. And the staff picks their 10 favorite reads of the year: The White Tiger, by Aravind AdigaThe Story of Edgar Sawtelle. by David WroblewskiOlive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth StroutAn Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination. by Elizabeth McCrackenThe Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie BarrowsThe House at Sugar Beach. by Helene CooperLush Life. by Richard PriceThe Blue Star, by Tony EarleyFor the Thrill of It, by Simon BaatzThe Forever War, by Dexter Filkins USAT