New York’s Book Culture bookstores have reportedly fired 5 of their 30 employees following a vote to unionize earlier this week, the Gothamist reports. The story quotes emails from owner Chris Doeblin they obtained: “It was indicated to me . . . that two people in our mangament [sic] group voted in the union and effectively undermined the interests of the store. The store always being in opposition to the Union. Unfortunately there is no other recourse but to remove these people from our employ effective immediately.” The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union indicates it “has filed an Unfair Labor Practice […]
People, Etc.
At Penguin Random House in the US, Tom Cox has been promoted to vp, adult mass merchandise and distributor sales, the company’s newly formed cross-company division, reporting to Jaci Updike. In addition, Penguin vp, director of distributor sales Ken Kaye will retire at the end of 2014 after more than 45 years in the industry. International sales director Simon Littlewood is leaving Random House UK, where he has worked since 1997, by “mutual agreement.” Deputy ceo of Penguin Random House UK said Ian Hudson said, “Sadly, after much discussion we have been unable to find a mutually suitable role for Simon within Penguin […]
S&S Expands eBook Lending Program to All Libraries
Simon & Schuster announced that its pilot ebook lending program, which was originally available to a handful of libraries and then had branched out to twenty systems, will now expand to libraries nationwide, providing access to its entire catalog of frontlist and backlist titles as ebooks. As in the original pilot program, each S&S title acquired by a library for digital lending is available for unlimited checkouts, one user per copy at a time, for one year from the date of purchase. The ebook program also allows users to purchase their own copies via a “Buy it Now” button through a given library’s […]
Barnes & Noble To Spin Off Nook As Public Company; Reports Weak Finish to Fiscal 2014
Barnes & Noble announced before the opening of the stock market Wednesday that it intends to split off its Nook Media division from the retail side, creating two separate, publicly traded companies. Shares rose over 10 percent in early morning trading on the news, up to roughly $22.5 a share. The seeds for such a spin-off were laid in the initial creation of Nook Media LLC (which includes details on how BN stores would display and sell Nook devices follow a possible separation). BN hopes to take the steps necessary to complete the separation by the end of March 2015, […]
People, Etc.
Arabella Stein is stepping down as co-director of Abner Stein after a leave of absence to “pursue a new direction”, the Bookseller reports. Stein began at Abner Stein in 2002 and moved up to co-director in 2011 after the death of her father (and the agency’s founder & namesake). Sandy Violette and Caspian Dennis will remain as co-directors, and said in a statement: “We would also like to thank Arabella wholeheartedly for her contribution to the agency. We will of course miss Arabella but fully support her decision, and wish her every happiness and success in the next stage of […]
Awards: Amazon’s Best Books So Far; Beevor Wins Pritzker
Amazon announced its multiple Best Books of 2014 So Far lists. Their overall No. 1 pick is Adam Begley’s biography UPDIKE and the rest of the top 10 includes Lily King’s PL Spring/Summer Buzz Book: 2. The Book of Unknown Americans, Cristina Henríquez: 3. Redeployment, Phil Klay 4. Euphoria, Lily King 5. No Place to Hide, Glenn Greenwald 6. In Paradise, Peter Matthiessen 7. The Invention of Wings, Sue Monk Kidd 8. Red Rising by Pierce Brown 9. Savage Harvest, by Carl Hoffman 10. Hollow City: The Second Novel of Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs Rounding out their Top 20 is: To […]