Co-founder of The New Press and longtime editor in chief and managing director of Pantheon prior to the Andre Schiffrin died in Paris on Sunday from pancreatic cancer. He was 78. The NYT calls him “a publishing force for 50 years, whose passion for editorial independence produced shelves of serious books, a titanic collision with a conglomerate that forced him out to stem losses, and a late-in-life comeback as a nonprofit publisher.” And they certify in print a definition of Pantheon as “a Random House imprint where making money was never the main point.” Bertelsmann’s president of corporate development and […]
Yet Another Weak Quarter for Books-A-Million
Hours after Barnes & Noble reported their second quarter financial results, Books-A-Million did the same Tuesday afternoon for its third quarter following the close of the market. Sales for the quarter ending November 2 fell 3.5 percent to $100.5 million. Same-store sales declined further, down 9.2 percent — and they had another big net loss of $7.1 million, or 47 cents per share (compared to a loss of $2.7 million a year ago). CEO Terrance Finley said in the release: “Our third quarter results are an improvement over the very difficult comparisons in the first half of the year. Comparable […]
People, Etc.
Publishers Weekly named American Booksellers Association ceo Oren Teicher and the ABA’s board of directors as their “person of the year” for 2013, “for their role in leading the resurgence of independent bookselling.” Former DC entertainment vp of publicity (and before that publicist at Vintage and Anchor) David Hyde has launched Superfan Promotions in Los Angeles. The company will create publicity and marketing campaigns, events, and social media engagement for authors, artists, conventions, festivals, stores, entertainment companies and publishers. Managing director of Penguin Digital in the UK Anna Rafferty will serve as chair of the London Book Fair’s Digital Minds […]
Bookselling, Etc.: Fundraising for Changing Hands and St. Mark’s; Harper’s Inflight Experiment
Changing Hands Bookstore has planned to open a second location in Phoenix, AZ for quite some time, but they hope to make it a reality thanks to a crowdfunding campaign to raise $80,000. It’s a fixed-funding campaign, which means backers will see their money returned if the store doesn’t reach its goal by December 24, and the store told Shelf Awareness that goal “is just a fraction of what we need to build a new indie bookstore. We’re putting up the bulk of the funding from our own resources. The $80K we hope to raise with this project will bring […]
Amazon Acquires AudioGo’s UK Catalog; Kindle Paperwhite Rumors; and More
Amazon has a licensing deal to publish the UK back catalog of bankrupt audiobook publisher AudioGo, according to the Sunday Times. The deal gives Amazon (which owns Audible) access to at least 5,000 titles from the company previously known as BBC Audiobooks. In Amazon rumor news, TechCrunch says the company’s next Kindle Paperwhite will be sold in the second quarter of 2014 and will include a high-resolution 300 ppi screen, custom typography, and an ambient light sensor. A new BBC documentary set to air Monday evening provides a behind-the-scenes look at the working conditions of one of Amazon’s UK-based warehouses, […]
People
At Vintage/Anchor, Russell Perreault has been promoted to vp, executive director of publicity & social media, continuing to report to Anne Messitte. In a statement she said Perreault “has always had a keen instinct for partnership in the greater media landscape. Working closely with film and television companies, he has built the imprints’ movie tiein program to one of the largest in the industry. And, in the social media space, Russell has been strategically expanding consumer reach both for our publishing program and for our authors.” In addition, Kate Runde has been promoted to director of publicity. At Nicholas Brearley […]