Ken Brooks is leaving his position as chief content officer at Wiley and will resume his consulting practice at Treadwell Media focused on content and operations in trade, reference and education publishing. Jessica Sindler has joined the ghostwriting and publishing services firm Kevin Anderson & Associates as executive editor. Previously she was senior editor at Dey Street books. US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo has been appointed to a third term, only the second person in 77 years to do so. The International Publishers Association (IPA) confirmed Bodour Al Qasimi, founder of the Kalimat Group in the UAE, as president-elect. Owner […]
Audio
Storytel Outperforms Its Own Forecasts
Swedish audiobook subscription service Storytel announced earnings for the third quarter ended September 30, with net sales of SEK609 million ($70.6 million), up from SEK491 million in last year’s period. Streaming sales were SEK490 million, up from SEK 399 million, or 23 percent. The company averaged 1.36 million paying subscribers in the quarter, up 34 percent from 1.014 million. Both streaming sales and subscribers exceeded the company’s forecasts for the quarter. The company also announced positive EBITDA for the first ime, of SEK7 million, but cautions that it was due to an accounting change and won’t be a trend: “since […]
People, Etc.
Kurt Mueller is joining Inkshares as coo. He was previously coo of The Onion for eight years. Cassie Mannes Murray has been promoted to associate agent at Howland Literary. Eugene Winick, 84, longtime president of McIntosh & Otis literary agency — which he acquired in 1985 — died August 21. Gail Sheehy, 82, author of bestselling Passages, died on August 24. Audio Audible has launched a new lower-priced subscription plan: For $7.95 a month, Audible Plus actually offers less. They provide “unlimited” access to what is actually a limited catalog of approximately 11,000 titles. The regular Audible subscription thus becomes […]
Briefs
Audio Spotify has indicated plans for an “audiobook strategy” through a job listing for a Head of Audio Books position that is attracting wide notice. The job includes “manag[ing] a book editorial team and strategy” and combines the development of original content as well as licensing and packaging third-party content. The company is working to “develop long-term strategy for audio books” and has “R&D teams building the books experience in the Spotify app.” They are looking for someone from the book world, with audiobook experience. The position is part of Spotify Studios, reportedly a new production company entity, suggesting the […]
Briefs
Picks Reese Witherspoon chose Leah Johnson‘s You Should See Me in a Crown as her first-ever YA title for the Hello Sunshine Book Club. Forthcoming AMERICAN CRISIS by Andrew Cuomo, “a revealing, behind-the-scenes account of his experience leading New York State through the COVID-19 epidemic,” will be published by Crown on October 13. Audio CD versions of Recorded Books‘ audiobooks will be manufactured-on-demand, sold and distributed in North America exclusively by Blackstone Audio beginning October 1. As part of the agreement, Blackstone will “serve all of Recorded Books’ CD audiobook production needs for libraries in the US and Canada. Over the coming months, […]
People, Etc.
Bridget Monroe Itkin has been promoted to senior editor at Artisan Books. Wah-Ming Chang has been promoted to vice president of company culture and senior managing editor, books at Catapult/Counterpoint/Soft Skull. In the UK, Lucy Hale has been hired for the new role of publisher for Pan, reporting to Jeremy Trevathan. She had been deputy ceo of Hodder & Stoughton, Headline, Quercus and John Murray until last October, when her position was eliminated. Before working for Hachette UK, Hale had been at Pan Macmillan as UK sales director and international sales director. Audio New publisher Levine Querido has an exclusive […]