Penguin Random House US president and coo Madeline McIntosh will take over responsibility for all adult publishing at the Penguin Group as president of a newly-created, consolidated Penguin Publishing Group. The previous division between the Penguin and Berkley/NAL groups will go away as the two are united “under a single guiding vision and leadership structure,” Penguin Random House ceo Markus Dohle writes. He says, “the time is right to create a one-leader management structure for the entire Penguin adult business, while also maintaining the identity of each of its individual publishing imprints.” With McIntosh’s appointment, Penguin Group president Susan Petersen Kennedy […]
People, Etc.
Alessandra Bastagli has joined Nation Books as editorial director, filling the position vacated earlier this year when Carl Bromley moved to The New Press. Most recently she has been digital features editor at Al Jazeera America, after working at Free Press until it was merged into the Simon & Schuster Publishing Group in fall 2012. Meg Cassidy has left Simon & Schuster, where she was a publicity manager, to pursue freelance work in publicity, culinary pr, and event planning from Portland, OR. She can be reached at mcassidy9@gmail.com. At their annual meeting later this month, the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) will honor […]
The Super Seuss Business
The Wall Street Journal writes in-depth on the Dr. Seuss franchise, so much a staple of Penguin Random House that it was cited a number of times in the company’s financial report earlier on Friday. The peg is the September 9 publication of a second collection of “lost” magazine work, Horton and the Kwuggerbug and More Lost Stories, following on an earlier 2011 collection that hit No. 1 on the NYT bestseller list. As a result Random House Children’s announced a first printing of 250,000 copies. The publisher said they have sold 600 million copies of Dr. Seuss books in 17 […]
A Tepid Second Quarter for Books-A-Million
Books-A-Million said sales for the second quarter ending August 2 more or less stayed flat, dipping 0.5 percent to $108.3 million. Same-store sales inched up a mere 0.1 percent, while their net loss of $3 million, or 21 cents per share was a considerable improvement on the $9.1 million net loss of a year ago. The quarterly results also include “higher income tax expense due to the recording of a non-cash valuation allowance and the reversal of previously recorded income tax benefits.” President and ceo Terrance Finley said in the release: “In our BAM! retail stores, the continued improvement in […]
People, Etc.
Books-A-Million has hired James Phelps as vp of eCommerce, responsible for “executing the vision, branding, merchandising and marketing strategy for Booksamillion.com.” Phelps has worked for retailers including HSN, Kohl’s, and Brookstone. At Red Wheel/Weiser Books and Conari Press, Kim Ehart has been promoted to assistant editor, while Michael Alexander has been promoted to production editor. Our Deal reports show the first reports from agent Anna Ghosh under her independent agency Ghosh Literary in San Francisco, though she set up the agency last year. That leaves Russell Galen as the sole principal at Scovil Galen Ghosh. In first-week sales reports, CNN laments Congressman Paul Ryan‘s […]
People: Applebaum Takes Emeritus Role at PRH, and More
At Penguin Random House, now entering his forty-third year with the company, Stuart Applebaum will step aside from his current role and took on a position “that is as unique as he is,” ceo Markus Dohle writes: Emeritus evp, corporate communications. Claire von Schilling is being promoted to svp, director, corporate communications, leading external and internal communications, branding, and corporate social responsibility, overseeing the US communications team and coordinating global communications efforts. She will report to Dohle. Applebaum, who remains at PRH full-time, will advise Schilling and “work with our colleagues on key communications issues and opportunities.” Dohle writes to colleagues […]