At Scholastic, Lynne Karppi has been promoted to Director of Creative and Product Development for the Consumer Products division. Andrea Colvin has been promoted to Director of Publishing Operations for Open Road Integrated Media. The Romance Writers of America announced its Golden Heart and RITA Award winners at its annual conference in New York last Friday. Full List Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, will self-publish her children’s book about 9/11, THE LITTLE PEAR TREE and donate the proceeds to charity, according to her spokesperson. A source told the Daily Mail that Ferguson reported got “her people” to send around […]
Agencies for Sale–Or Not
For sole proprietors or small literary agencies, a founder’s passing or ill health creates a host of uncertainties with respect to a company’s future. Do they sell the business, hire new staff, or maintain the agency’s backlist interests on a passive basis? A handful of agencies have reckoned with these choices over the past six months in a variety of ways. As reported in May, three active members of Russell & Volkening left to start a new company, Salky Hannigan Getzler Agency, taking their clients with them. Part of the reason, multiple sources told us, was that the trio attempted […]
Bookselling: Aus/NZ Distributor Scribo Shuts Down; Fireside Books To Close; and More
Fireside Books in Marshall, MI will close in August after just over four years in business. Battle Creek Inquirer Vanderbilt University will move its college bookstore to a new location this fall. The space was once occupied by Borders, but will now be operated by Barnes & Noble. Nashville Business Journal The Scribo Group, one of Australia & New Zealand’s largest independent book distributors, will close, leading to the loss of approximately 50 jobs. Managing director of Scribo owner Gordon and Gotch Australia Craig Davidson said in a statement that a number of factors, including an increase in offshore online […]
eNews: Nook’s Designer, YA Author’s Social Clout, French eBooks At 1.8 Percent
BusinessWeek profiles Robert Brunner, the designer of Barnes & Noble’s Nook devices, who was approached by the company in 2008. He was also a consulting designer to Amazon in the development of the first “wedgie” Kindle and had a role in Apple’s Newton handheld as that company’s director of industrial design. When Barnes & Noble approached him, Brunner said, “the company knew ‘nothing’ about digital media, and wanted to know about how you would create a product and bring it to market.” Their shared goal was to keep the device simple and remove as many buttons as possible. “Books don’t […]
Borders Has Preliminary Sale Agreement with Najafi
Borders announced Thursday night it has entered into an asset purchase agreement with Najafi Companies’ Direct Brands unit, which it will submit to the bankruptcy court as a stalking horse bid as part of a court-supervised auction of the bookseller. “Purchase” is an interesting term (“take” might be another one), since Najafi would put up $215.1 million for “substantially all of the company’s assets,” acquiring inventory potentially worth far more than that, along with assuming $220 million in liabilities. It’s not clear how many locations Najafi intends to keep operating–but there is an agreement in place already with Hilco and […]
People, Etc.
Anthony Cheetham has left Atlantic Books, where he was an associate publisher and director on its board, in what he described as a “joint decision” between himself and Atlantic ceo Toby Mundy. “There wasn’t a huge amount for me to do at Atlantic, and the projects that I had envisaged working on were not really happening because it has been a difficult year for the company,” Cheetham told the Bookseller. He added that he was about to launch a new venture sometime this autumn, and while Cheetham did not give many details, evidently the plan is to “develop a ‘specialist […]