With Borders set to declare fourth-quarter results next week, expectations are grim: more multi-million dollar losses, store closures, payroll slashings and, with shares currently trading at 64 cents per share, potential de-listing from the NYSE. Shareholders will hear more about the company’s strategy, including plans for a reverse stock split to satisfy NYSE conditions, next Wednesday when CEO Ron Marshall hosts a conference call with analysts and investors. One turnaround expert tells the Detroit Free Press that Borders seems to be one of buying time and hoping economic recovery is just around the corner. “They are figuring their brand name […]
Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to Write About Economic Meltdown
Grand Central imprint Business Plus will release an account of the economic crisis by Henry Paulson, former Secretary of the Treasury and CEO of Goldman Sachs, this October. According to a statement issued Wednesday by Business Plus, the untitled book will “include Paulson’s personal recollections of key moments and decisions” and “will also include his insights on what has happened since he left office.” In a telephone interview with the AP, Paulson said: “I didn’t come to Washington thinking I was going to leave and write a book, but this period was so significant and there are so many insights […]
People and Announcements
Caroline Sutton has been named Editor-in-Chief of Hudson Street Press, effective May 4. Previously she was an Executive Editor with Collins. At Wiley, svp international development Stephen Smith has been promoted to chief operating officer, effective May 1. He will be “responsible for the overall direction and leadership of the Wiley’s global publishing business,” reporting to CEO William Pesce, and will relocate to the company’s Hoboken headquarters. Guy Raphael, senior non-fiction buyer at Borders UK, is leaving the company just weeks after being promoted to his current position. At Inner Traditions, Bear & Co., John Hays has been appointed Director […]
Report Cites Book Trade's "Exclusionary" Tactics Towards 20m Readers
A report due out this week from research conducted by HarperCollins, the Trade Publishers Council and the National Year of Reading (NYR) says the book trade is “too intimidating” towards the C2DE socio-economic group, characterized as lower income, non-professional families. The report found that many families in this group, numbering up to 20 million, found books to be “alien and unattractive” while reading was considered “an anti-social activity for people who don’t know how to live.” NYR project director Honor Wilson-Fletcher said: “These are good solid families who don’t have literacy problems but who just don’t read. They are one […]
FiledByAuthor Launches Public Beta
After spending a number of months in private pre-beta, FiledByAuthor has moved into public beta format. The site, which aims to be “the first large-scale author-centric promotional platform to provide every author that has been published in the U.S. or Canada a free, hosted, ecommerce enabled web page,” has more than 1.8 million pre-assembled author web pages and over 7 million book titles. “All authors, regardless of publishing category are encouraged to visit the site, claim their page, make corrections, and enrich them in a variety of ways,” said Founder, President & C.E.O. Peter Clifton in the accompanying release. FiledByAuthor
People and Announcements
Stacia Decker and Danielle Chiotti have joined Firebrand Literary as agents. Decker was previously an editor at Harcourt; Chiotti was formerly a senior editor at Kensington. Faber & Faber have appointed Mary Cannam and Jason Cooper have been appointed to the executive board At Crown, Courtney Greenhalgh has been promoted to Publicity Manager and Emily Lavelle has been promoted to Associate Publicist. Houston Chronicle books editor Fritz Lanham was among those laid off from the newspaper earlier this week. Marcus Lutrell and Dexter Filkins have both won the 2009 Colby Award, recognizing a first work of fiction or non-fiction “that […]