Following the abrupt resignation of CEO Peter Ruis in early September, accompanied by the departure of company veteran and president Andrea Limbardi for another job, Indigo Books & Music’s recently-retired founder Heather Reisman has returned to the company as CEO. She has also rejoined the board, which she previously chaired. Reisman stepped down as CEO a year ago, and retired from the board in late August. CFO Craig Loudon, who has been overseeing day-to-day operations along with general counsel Damien Liddle, has been named chief operating officer, in addition to his finance duties. Reisman says in the announcement: “There is […]
Favorite Finger?
When compiling the most recent bestseller lists last week, we noticed two different versions of Fran Littlewood’s AMAZING GRACE ADAMS charting (under two different ISBNs). There is the “original recipe” jacket, displaying a full middle finger — as well as a more TV- and retailer-friendly version, with a quote burst that covers the finger. Holt executive director of publicity Caitlin Mulrooney-Lyski writes in answer to our query, “The full finger was the primary edition, but we created the burst cover for any accounts that preferred it as well as the Today Show for the Jenna pick,” which is apparently a […]
Francisco Partners Joins HIG Capital In RBmedia Purchase
The planned sale of RBmedia by KKR to H.I.G. Capital closed last week. In the announcement, it was disclosed that another tech-focused private equity firm, Francisco Partners, had “partnered” with H.I.G. Capital in the purchase. Francisco Partners executives Matt Spetzler and Jason Brein said in the release: “We are excited to partner with H.I.G. to help usher in RBmedia’s next phase of growth as the audiobook industry continues to expand. Francisco Partners has extensive experience in audio and content publishing, technology and media and we believe audiobooks are at a positive inflection point. Working together, our capital and operating insights […]
Obituary: Gita Mehta
Author and journalist Gita Mehta, 80, died on September 16. She was the widow of longtime Knopf editor-in-chief and Knopf Doubleday chairman Sonny Mehta.
Excerpt Highlights October Romney Biography
A newsmaking excerpt from McKay Coppins’ forthcoming biography ROMNEY: A Reckoning aligned with the Senator’s announcement he will not seek re-election. And the serial in the Atlantic adds the book to the list of high-profile memoirs and biographies looking to lift nonfiction sales this fall. Romney told Coppins of his decision not to run “earlier this year.” He “began meeting with Romney in the spring of 2021. The senator hadn’t told anyone he was talking to a biographer, and we kept our interviews discreet.” The excerpt includes many quotable stories, including the revelation that Romney texted Senator Mitch McConnell on […]
This Is How Real Libraries Work Diligently to Preserve and Provide Out-of-Print eBooks, Legally
This article from a University of California digital librarian describing efforts from the New York Public Library is a wonderful counterpoint to the huffery and puffery from the Internet Archive. The NYPL is actually doing the hard work of complying with the law and working with creators and rightsholders, and innovating on everyone’s behalf along the way, while also managing to digitize and lend legally a corpus of works. Renata Ewing writes: “NYPL’s approach is to work collaboratively with authors and publishers to secure licenses to permit patrons to access in-copyright out-of-print works without impacting the commercial value of those […]