First quarter sales at Simon & Schuster fell by $8 million (or 4.5 percent) to $145 million, the company’s third consecutive quarterly revenue drop, as a result of “lower print book sales.” OIBDA was flat at $13 million (with operating income up $1 million to $12 million), with lower selling and inventory costs “more than offsetting” the print book sales decline. Bestselling titles of note included Pulitzer winner All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, and Get What’s Yours: The Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security by Laurence J. Kotlikoff, Philip Moeller, and Paul Solman. CEO Carolyn Reidy […]
People, Etc.
Ruchir Pandya has joined HarperCollins as senior pricing analyst, reporting to Frank Albanese. Previously he was a revenue management analyst at JetBlue. At HarperOne, Claudia Boutote has been promoted to svp, publisher of the Elixir imprint, while Laina Adler moves up to vp, associate publisher. Both will report to Mark Tauber; creative director Adrian Morgan will now report to Terri Leonard, and senior publicity directors Melinda Mullin and Suzanne Wickham will now report to Adler. Colleen Lindsay is leaving Berkley/NAL, where she was associate director of marketing, social media and reader experience, on May 8. She may be reached at […]
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At Simon & Schuster Children’s, Christian Trimmer has been promoted to executive editor; Kristin Ostby moves up to senior editor; and Catherine Laudone has been promoted to assistant editor. In addition, Christine Dong has been promoted to senior demand planner. At Macmillan Audio, Robert Allen has been promoted to associate publisher, while Samantha Edelson moves up to marketing director. At Candlewick, Zoe Luderitz has been promoted to senior marketing manager. In addition, Andie Krawczyk has been promoted to manager of library marketing and outreach. At Chronicle Books, Ariel Richardson has been promoted to associate editor, children’s. Announcements Barnes & Noble […]
Harper Grows with Harlequin, But Core Comp Falls With Lower Divergent Sales
HarperCollins’ parent company News Corp. reported third quarter fiscal year sales for the period ending March 31 after the close of the market on Tuesday. As you would expect overall sales rose at HarperCollins in the third quarter because the Harlequin acquisition makes them a bigger company, with sales of $402 million, up 14 percent on the quarter last year, while EBITDA increased 6 percent to $56 million. But on a comparable basis, HarperCollins itself without the addition of Harlequin saw sales decline 5 percent, down $18 million to $336 million, as core EBITDA fell 8 percent, to a still […]
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After under 3 years in the post, Follett ceo Mary Lee Schneider is departing, to be replaced by Ray Griffith. He spent 20 years at Ace Hardware, where he was president and ceo until April 2013. The company said, “The son of a public school teacher and grade school principal who began his career managing a local retail store, Ray has the right experience and strategic vision to drive Follett to continued success.” In the announcement, Schneider comments: “I have been proud to be a part of the Follett story for the past 14 years, first as a member of the board […]
People: Ruth Rendell Dies, and More
Ruth Rendell, 85, author of more than 60 novels under her own name as well as Barbara Vine, died May 2 from complications of a stroke suffered in January. Rendell wrote 24 Inspector Wexford novels starting with From Doon with Death (1964) as well as many standalone suspense novels, including 14 under the Barbara Vine name. Rendell’s final novel, Dark Corners, will be published by Cornerstone and Scribner in October. Michael McKenzie will join Algonquin as executive director of publicity on May 26, working out of the company’s New York offices and overseeing both adult and young readers lists. Previously […]