The No. 1 Indie Next Pick for March is SHOTGUN LOVESONGS by Nickolas Butler, and Isla Morley’s novel is the first of our 2014 Spring/Summer Buzz Books to make the ABA lists (most of our featured titles don’t land until April or beyond). The full list includes: The Enchanted, by Rene Denfeld Gemin, by Carol Cassella After I’m Gone, by Laura Lippman The Weight of Blood, by Laura McHugh The Museum of Extraordinary Things, by Alice Hoffman The Accident, by Chris Pavone A Circle of Wives, by Alice LaPlante The Spinning Heart, by Donal Ryan Above, by Isla Morley Bark: […]
People
Follett has named Todd Litzsinger chairman of the board, effective immediately. He succeeds Steve Waichler, who held the role on an interim basis following the passing of Follett’s former chairman, Alison O’Hara, last July. A fourth-generation Follett family member, Litzsinger first joined the company in 1992 and has served on the company board since 2003. At Simon & Schuster, Bryony Weiss has been promoted to senior marketing manager in the corporate marketing group. At Kids Can Press, Naseem Hrab has been promoted to marketing director. In addition, Carly Slack has been named senior manager, licensing and retail development, moving over […]
Bookselling: Chains Challenged In Netherlands and Poland, and More
Less than a year after Dutch investment group Procures bought bankrupt bookstore chain Selexyz for €3.5m and combined operations with the secondhand and discount De Slegte chain under the banner Polare, the entire company is facing new financial woes. The 20 Polare stores “temporarily” closed Tuesday and their online store has suspended operations as well as part of a “strategic organization,”according to NLTimes.nl, but ceo Jan van de Wouw told RTL Nieuws that Polare is negotiating with “two interested parties” to reopen the stores. Tuesday’s shutdown came just two months after Polare laid off 54 of 336 full-time workers, with book […]
People, Etc.: LMQ to Manage Skolnick Back Office, William Lynch Gets A Job
Lippincott Massie McQuilkin announced that they will manage all back-office operations of the Irene Skolnick Literary Agency. LMQ has been selling and managing foreign rights for Skolnick’s authors since 2010. Skolnick says in the announcement, “I am delighted to be moving the agency to the offices of my friends at LMQ, where I will be able to focus my energies on the parts of the job I love most — finding and nurturing literary talent.” Rob McQuilkin notes they “feel honored that Irene is entrusting us with an agency she has so carefully and lovingly built over the past twenty years.” […]
People: Kirshbaum to Join Waxman Leavell, and More
Larry Kirshbaum will join the Waxman Leavell Literary Agency as a senior agent starting February 24, the WSJ reported. Scott Waxman says, “He’ll be an independent agent building his own list like every agent does. I’ve always admired Larry and our team is extremely fortunate to have him as a colleague.” Kirshbaum was an agent for his own firm, LJK Literary Management, between 2005 and mid-2011. (His former colleagues at that agency reconstituted as the Einstein Thompson Agency when Kirshbaum joined Amazon Publishing in 2011.) Macmillan vp, director of international sales Judith Sisko will retire after this year’s London Book […]
Another Successful Winter Institute
The ABA’s 9th annual Winter Institute in Seattle last week once again drew a sellout crowd of more than 500 enthusiastic booksellers, with almost 40 percent of attendees — and 60 bookstores — present for the first time. Those independent booksellers had reason for optimism, as ceo Oren Teicher said at the first of two rep picks’ luncheons on Wednesday. After showing an 8 percent gain in sales at ABA stores in 2012, “we have held on to virtually all of those gains in 2013,” Teicher noted. (In a follow-up email, Teicher explained he kept his statistics “somewhat vague overall” […]