Canongate announced that it has purchased Severn House, for an undisclosed sum from Edwin Buckhalter and his family. Buckhalter, who founded the publisher in 1974, and Mandy Shaw will serve as consultants going forward. Kate Lyall Grant remains as publisher and the staff will relocate to Canongate’s west London offices. The deal was financed in part by Canongate’s bankers, Handelsbanken. Severn House had sales of £3.26 million in 2016. Additionally, Canongate’s finance and operations director Kate Gibb has been promoted to chief operating officer, and will sit on the Severn House board along with ceo Jamie Byng and chair David Young. Byng says in the announcement, […]
Audio
Kobo Adds Audio Subscription, Sales
Kobo has launched a broad program of digital audiobooks, available for individual purchase but also available through a $9.99/month subscription, promising “the best value on a subscription plan in the category.” The service is also available in Canada ($12.99/month), the UK (£6.99/month), Australia ($12.99/month), and New Zealand ($13.99/month). CEO Michael Tamblyn says in the press release, “Last year, we built the Kobo Aura One eReader with the help of our best customers, and our new offering is no different. What we unequivocally heard was that they wanted the best deal on audiobooks, and we are pleased to offer the lowest […]
People, Etc.
CBS chief executive Les Moonves, 67, has extended his contract and is now expected to run the company through June 2021 — after which he can serve as a senior adviser for five years, with an option to set up a production company with CBS’s support. Chip Rolley joined PEN America as director of the PEN World Voices Festival, and also serves as senior director of literary programs. Most recently he was artistic director of the Sydney Writers’ Festival. Abigail Welhouse has been promoted to senior publicist for Scott Manning & Associates. In the UK, Harim Yim and Rachel Richardson have […]
Recorded Books Renames Itself RBmedia
Recorded Books acquired the Audiobooks.com retail platform on December 31, 2016 but has officially “announced” the acquisition on Tuesday. (In turn, the publishing arm of Audiobooks.com now operates as Novel Audio.) Recorded Books has also unveiled a broader rebranding of the parent company as RBmedia going forward. The new “unified brand” will “help us position the benefits of the combined organization and product lines to the market.” CEO Tom MacIsaac says in the announcement, “RBmedia is the only company that brings together all three key elements of spoken audio and digital media distribution. Not only do we produce top-quality spoken audio content, we’ve also […]
People, Etc.
Valerie Steiker will join Scribner as executive editor on April 17. Previously, she was the longtime culture editor at Vogue. Reporting to Colin Harrison and Nan Graham, she will acquire and edit fiction, memoir, narrative non-fiction, and lifestyle books. Parisa Ebrahimi joins the Crown and Hogarth fiction team today as editor. She moves over from Chatto & Windus in London and reports to Lindsay Sagnette. Rebecca Marsh has joined Viking/Penguin Books as publicity manager. Previously, she was a senior publicist for Crown Archetype, Harmony, and Three Rivers Press. Forthcoming Audio Robert Caro has written and narrated an audiobook-only title, ON POWER, releasing on May 9, […]
People, Etc.
At Chronicle Books, AiLing Tjan has been promoted to accounting supervisor, while Barrett Hooper is now senior financial analyst and Christina Mott moves up to distribution client account manager. Ingram Content Group has tapped poetry writer and bookseller Stephen Sparks to launch a poetry newsletter called Little Infinite. Sparks owns Point Reyes Bookshop in Pt. Reyes, CA, and has contributed to a number of literary outlets including the Paris Review Daily, Tin House, Music & Literature magazine, BOMB and Lithub. Imprints Bonnier Publishing is expanding their Igloo Books mass market line, setting up a US version, led by Jeremy Nurnberg, now director of sales, North America […]