The National Book Awards will announce its finalists on NPR’s Morning Edition at 8:40 PM on October 15. Books & Books owner and co-founder of Miami Book Fair Mitchell Kaplan will make the announcement. Longtime co-owner of Village Books Dee Robinson will retire at the end of the week after more than 34 years. “It’s been a great job for 34 years,” Robinson wrote in a Facebook post to customers. “On to whatever awaits, starting with a pile of books!” Robinson’s husband and co-owner Chuck Robinson will stay on. Ingram will handle sales and distribution for Magnet & Steel, a […]
Bookstores
People: Adjustments At Simon Pulse, and More
The Simon Pulse imprint has announced a new structure to “maximize the amazing potential of Pulse and continue to support the success of Aladdin.” Liesa Abrams is being promoted to vp, editorial director of Pulse and associate editorial director of Aladdin. But “as a result of this reorganization,” Simon Pulse editorial director Patrick Price is leaving the company. Additionally, Michael Strother is being promoted to associate editor of Simon Pulse. At Twelve, Libby Burton has been promoted to associate editor. At Macmillan, Astra Berzinskas and John Edwards have both been promoted to director, mass merchandise sales. The Saroyan Prize for International Writing has been awarded to […]
People, Etc.
Will Atkinson will join Atlantic Books as managing director and publisher on October 1. Previously he was sales and marketing director at Faber, where he spent the past 20 years. Atlantic chairman Peter Roche said in the announcement “At Faber, [Atkinson] has demonstrated an unrelenting enthusiasm for independent publishing tempered with an unparalleled zeal for negotiating the best deal. I’ve admired Will’s work for many years and believe he is the perfect person to head up Atlantic Books. Rowan Cope will join Simon & Schuster UK as editorial director on October 13. Previously she was a senior editor at Little, […]
Bookselling: the Purdue Student Store, Powered by Amazon; Best Little Bookshop in Beta
Amazon has partnered with Purdue University in Indiana on the Purdue Student Store, which will not only offer discounted physical and digital textbooks, but, in early 2015, will also bring staffed customer order pickup and drop-off locations to Purdue’s campus, as well as expedited shipping benefits phased in over the course of the 2014-2015 academic year. It’s Amazon’s second co-branded college store after the first, with University of California, Davis, launched last year. Founder and former managing director of the Book Depository Kieron Smith has launched his new online bookselling venture, Best Little Bookshop, in beta. Smith, who left Book […]
People, Etc.
The NOOK Media ebooks team announced a number of recent promotions. Ali Kokmen has been promoted to director of sales, ebooks, reporting to Kashif Zafar, responsible for fiction, nonfiction, and kids and teens. Norman Waters has been promoted to senior merchandising associate, continuing to report to Kokmen. Finally, Matt Warner has transitioned his role to be director, ebook channel sales & marketing, also continuing to report to Zafar. In the UK, founder and managing director of Quadrille Alison Cathie will leave the company at the end of August. Cathie, who founded the craft and cookery publisher in 1994, will now […]
Scribd Enters Digital Book Discovery Fray; Same-Day Service from BN & Google
Scribd relaunched what it dubs its “new browse experience”, the company’s try at digital book discovery to complement its existing subscription program, which now boasts 500,000 titles (with Princeton University Press, Samhain, and National Geographic among the most recently added publishers.) The browsing capability is available at Scribd’s website and in the coming weeks through its various mobile apps. Scribd vp, marketing Julie Haddon told us in an interview earlier this week that the company enlisted a “50-person team of scientists, book publishing experts, librarians, and marketers”, as well as a small editorial staff, to “work out the ideal browsing […]