Amazon’s spotlight pick for April is Fredrik Backman’s novel Beartown and the featured debut is Omar El Akkad’s American War (which you can start reading now in our April Buzz Books Monthly). Also on the list is March Buzz Books title The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck. The other titles feature: Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley, Hannah Tinti Option B, Sheryl Sandberg, Adam M. Grant Ph.D. Void Star, Zachary Mason The Road to Jonestown, Jeff Guinn Nevertheless, Alec Baldwin Prussian Blue, Philip Kerr Barnes and Noble‘s best new fiction list for April recommends: The Romance Reader’s Guide to Life, by […]
Bookstores
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, […]
Briefs: Talking Leaves to Close One Store, Norton Expands, and More
Bookselling Buffalo’s Talking Leaves Bookstore is closing their Main Street store after 42 years in the University Heights neighborhood and will consolidate inventory in their Elmwood location over the next three months. “Significant changes in book buying habits and in the University of Buffalo neighborhood are major factors in this decision,” they write on their Facebook page. With the consolidation will come “a renewed focus on a resurgent future that incorporates all that bookselling in the 21st century entails. We will continue our many partnerships with cultural organizations, schools and other community groups to sponsor readings, conversations, and other events, […]
Bookselling: Amazon’s Tenth, and More
Building permits flagged for the media Amazon‘s newest bookstore location, back home in Bellevue, WA, which was then confirmed by the company. They say they are now hiring personnel for the store, which is Amazon’s tenth known bookstore so far. Further underscoring Amazon’s ambition for these stores is the wording in this recently updated listing for a program manager, launch, for Amazon Books: “The books category team is hiring a Program Manager to develop and execute scalable launch plans to grow and improve our business. As the Program Manager, Launch, your job is to make it easier, faster, and more efficient […]
Riggio Addresses Publishers
In a session titled, “Barnes & Noble Looks to the Future,” Penguin Random House ceo Markus Dohle interviewed Barnes & Noble ceo Len Riggio at the AAP’s annual meeting on Wednesday, held at PRH’s offices. Dohle started the session with the jovial question, “How’s retirement?” (since Riggio was supposed to retire from the executive ranks of the bookseller until he stepped in following the firing of Ron Boire). “My original plan, believe it or not,” Riggio said, “was to retire at the age of 45 and become a schoolteacher, so I guess I’m running late on that plan.” In terms […]
Bookselling: Albany Book House Downsizing; Wide World Books and Maps to Vacate Space; and More
Albany store Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza is downsizing, due to the economy and online competition. They will close the children’s store next door, Little Book House, and move children’s books into the back area of their main space. In an email the owner also cited “the relentless impact of Amazon on the publishing industry.” Seattle’s Wide World Books and Maps, saved from closure in February 2016 by a crowd-funding campaign, will leave its current location by the end of April. In an email announcement, the owners noted that they are exploring options including changing locations, becoming web only, or partnering with a cafe. The announcement explains, “While […]