Langenscheidt Publishing Group President Marc Jennings has resigned from the company, effective immediately. He is replaced by John Muchnicki, who is being tasked with streamlining Langenscheidt’s stateside operation and positioning the company for new growth going forward. Sonya Safro has joined Twelve as an Associate Publicist. Previously she was at Knopf, where she was an Associate Publicist. Harold McGraw, Jr., who began at McGraw-Hill as a sales rep in 1947 and was elected president in 1974 and CEO a year later, died at his home in Darien, Ct. at the age of 92.NYT obit Ai Ogawa, the National Book Award […]
Random House Stays Off iPad, For Now; Kobo Launches Dedicated e-Reader; and More eNews
Random House remains the most conspicuously absent publisher from the iPad, and ceo Markus Dohle indicates to the FT he “did not exclude the possibility of reaching a deal” before April 3, though it remains unlikely. Dohle said Apple’s proposition means “changes, in particular for our stakeholders,” indicating that further discussions with authors and agents are needed. In restating the obvious, they write he is “treading carefully, as Apple’s pricing regime could erode established publishing practices.” Which is the whole point. In early February, Random House president Madeline McIntosh told booksellers about a series of concerns that publishers “have no […]
People and Announcements
Barnes & Noble has named Dan Gilbert as Executive Vice President, Operations and Customer Service, responsible for managing the company’s warehousing and fulfillment to its retail and digital operations. Previously he was Vice President of Customer Operations for Cisco Systems. Liz Querio has joined Sourcebooks as a marketing manager. She was most recently was most recently a senior marketing specialist with OfficeMax. Stephanie O’Cain has been promoted to associate marketing manager at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.NBN International will move to a new 80,000 square feet facility in Plymouth, England later this summer, a move made necessary by sales […]
Random House Stays Flat for the Year
In what parent company Bertelsmann cited as a “difficult economic environment,” Random House reported 2009 fiscal year sales of â¬1.723 billion, up a mere 2 million euros from last year, with flat EBIT of â¬137 million. The company made up ground in the second half of the year to stay even, helped by sales of 8 million copies of Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol in the US and the UK and 7 million copies of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy in the US and Germany. The company says that digital is their fastest-growing segment, with e-book sales tripling during the year, […]
Perseus and Workman Strike iPad Deals
Yesterday the NYT reported that both Perseus and Workman had signed on with Apple to make ebooks available for the iPad, meaning, from what’s been previously reported about Apple’s contract, that they have agreed to the company’s agency model and its most favored nations requirement. Both moves were confirmed first by Apple’s side, and while Workman hasn’t issued anything on the record yet, Perseus CEO David Steinberger said in a statement that the company was “working with Apple to make books from the Perseus Books Group and the independent publishers we represent available on the iBookstore starting on April 3. […]
Quarto's "Demanding Year" Produces Decent Results
Full-year sales at The Quarto Group fell 5 percent to £106.6 million. Adjusted operating profit dropped 10 percent to £10.2m, though reported pretax profit doubled from last year to £3.6m. The book publishing division had sales for the year of £70.1m, more or less flat compared to last year, and operating profit ahead by 7% at £6.7m. Their co-edition division took a bigger hit, as revenues fell 15% to £36.5m, and operating profit dropped 22% to £5m, with “much of the deterioration” blamed on Quarto’s publishing services unit in Hong Kong. Chairman Laurence Orbach, citing “decent results” borne out of […]