Christine Munroe recently joined Kobo as US Manager for Kobo Writing Life. Previously she was a scout at Mary Anne Thompson Associates. In addition, Diego Marano has been named UK Manager for Kobo Writing Life. Previously he was a digital content acquisitions manager at Waterstones. Jenny Choy will join Little, Brown Books for Young Readers as senior manager, school & library marketing on September 16. Previously she was Manager, school & library marketing at Candlewick Press. At the Edinburgh Book Festival Ian Rankin announced he will take a year off, the Scotsman reports, after finishing the manuscript of the next […]
Bookstores
Hannah Kent’s Debut BURIAL RITES Leads September Indie Next List
Hannah Kent’s debut novel BURIAL RITES is the #1 pick for the September Indie Next List, which also features two BEA Buzz Book selections — THE AFFAIRS OF OTHERS by Amy Grace Loyd and KNOCKING ON HEAVEN’S DOOR by Katy Butler — as well as ALEX by Pierre Lemaitre, the first of the 40 titles featured in our own Fall/Winter Buzz Book sampler that you can enjoy right now. The full list: #1 Pick: Burial Rites: A Novel, by Hannah Kent Night Film: A Novel, by Marisha Pessl Alex, by Pierre Lemaitre (translated by Frank Wynne) Enon: A Novel, by […]
The “Declaration of War” Was Redacted
Shelf Awareness has quietly posted an online amendment to their Saturday dispatch titled “Amazon’s ‘Declaration of War.'” By later that morning, when the publication sent out a press release to the media, they had learned that Amazon’s price cuts were in response to Overstock.com’s Thursday press release promising to price books 10 percent lower than Amazon. The online story was revised to remove the inflammatory headline and the quote from which it was taken, but these changes were not flagged in that media alert. “In our eagerness to get out the updated version, we neglected to add a line that […]
Amazon Matches Overstock Discounts; Adds Thousands of Warehouse Jobs
Things are changing quickly this summer in once-staid book publishing. It was early this month that the NYT warned America that “as competition wanes, Amazon cuts back discounts” on books. Based on penetrating “anecdotal and fragmentary” evidence, the newspaper convinced average Americans that Amazon was cutting back on book discounts — particularly from smaller and academic publishers — daring to charge only a little less than list price, as part of their Plot to Destroy Publishing. Then last Thursday, Overstock.com put out a press release announcing “a limited time” promotion, promising “we’ve priced our books at least 10-percent below Amazon.com’s […]
Barnes & Noble Increases Historical Earnings, Pays Lynch Severance, and Postpones Nook International Rollout
Barnes & Noble filed restated historical financial statements with the SEC after concluding that they had “overstated certain accruals for the periods prior to April 27, 2013, as a result of inadequate controls over the accrual reconciliation process at its distribution centers.” The company made a few other historical restatements as well. The primary effect was to increase their reportable earnings from the past three years–so the 2012 net loss got $4 million smaller; the 2011 loss got $5 million smaller; and the 2010 earnings rose $6 million. With those corrections, the company also filed their delayed annual report with […]
New Owner for Quail Ridge Bookstore
Quail Ridge Books & Music in Raleigh, North Carolina will be sold at the end of month, store founder Nancy Olson announced late last week. The new owner, according to the Raleigh News-Observer, is Lisa Robie Poole, married to Waste Industries CEO Lonnie C. “Ven” Poole III (who is also a benefactor of North Carolina State University). Olson, who decided to sell the bookstore last November, will stay on for three months as part of a transitional period, with the sale officially closing on July 31. Poole told a crowd of store customers Friday she has no plans to change […]