Quail Ridge Books & Music in Raleigh, North Carolina will be sold at the end of month, store founder Nancy Olson announced late last week. The new owner, according to the Raleigh News-Observer, is Lisa Robie Poole, married to Waste Industries CEO Lonnie C. “Ven” Poole III (who is also a benefactor of North Carolina State University). Olson, who decided to sell the bookstore last November, will stay on for three months as part of a transitional period, with the sale officially closing on July 31. Poole told a crowd of store customers Friday she has no plans to change […]
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Anthony Cheetham is stepping down as ceo of Head of Zeus in January 2014, though he will retain the role of chairman. Replacing him as ceo and publisher is Amanda Ridout, who will join the company on September 4. Ridout was most recently managing director of Phaidon Press, and before then managing director of HarperCollins UK. “I am delighted to join the team at such an exciting time in the company’s development,” Ridout said in a statement. “After just a year in existence they have already got a strong list of authors and I look forward to building on these […]
Vanity Fair On The Harper Lee Lawsuit
Harper Lee’s lawsuit against her former agent Sam Pinkus filed in May merits a lengthy feature by Mark Seal in the August issue of Vanity Fair (the magazine published a brief excerpt online earlier this week and provided us with a PDF copy of the entire piece.) While Seal quotes liberally from Lee’s original complaint, and also draws on Charles Shields’ unauthorized biography of Lee for some of the publishing background, he also paints a fuller portrait of the author, now 87 and living in an assisted living facility in Monroeville, Alabama. Though a friend said she is “paralyzed on […]
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Editorial director of Sterling Publishing Michael Fragnito is leaving the company on Friday after 13 years at Barnes & Noble. He writes: “I plan to stay in the business, and think this is a time of exciting change for our industry.” Random House UK’s Maureen Corish has been appointed group communications director, UK & international (English language) for Penguin Random House, reporting to Tom Weldon. Corish will continue to manage the Random House Consumer Insight team and corporate communications and media relations, while adding responsibility for post-merger internal communications and staff engagement. Penguin UK’s communications director Rebecca Sinclair is leaving the […]
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Senior marketing manager at Grove/Atlantic and Mysterious Press Jason Pinter will leave the company on July 19 to launch Polis Books, a digital publishing startup focusing on new and backlist fiction from contemporary authors in crime fiction, science fiction & fantasy, and romance/erotica/commercial women’s fiction. Pinter told us Polis Books will formally debut next month (and is looking to hire an additional acquiring editor) and publish its first list this fall. Polis will offer authors “modest advances to begin with,” as “it’s important that our writers know we are investing in them” and royalties beginning at at 40 percent of […]
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Sydny Miner has left her position as executive editor at Crown, and is “looking for new opportunities.” She can be reached at sydny.miner@gmail.com. At Macmillan, Erin Coffey has been promoted to the newly created role of vp, internal communications, event and community services. Colin Bettam has joined Kobo as chief marketing officer, reporting to Michael Serbinis. He was formerly vp, marketing at LG. Bettam will “be responsible for building and expanding the Kobo brand internationally,” with stores “expected to launch this year…[in] countries like India, Russia and Philippines.” Separately, Kobo announced the release of their app for the disappointing new […]