At William Morrow, Peter Hubbard has been promoted to senior editor. At Touchstone, Lauren Spiegel has been promoted to associate editor. In the Eataly food and wine center opening at the end of August in the former Toy Building on lower Fifth Avenue in New York, led by Lidia and Joseph Bastianich and Mario Batali, Rizzoli Bookstore will be the exclusive bookseller. They will also manage book signings by chefs giving classes and demonstrations in the space. Tyrus Books, founded last year, announced that they are acquiring fellow crime fiction publisher Busted Flush Press. Busted Flush publisher David Thompson “will […]
Bookstores
This Time Borders Hires, and More
Borders has hired Michele Delahunty-Cloutier as evp, chief merchandising officer, overseeing merchandising, marketing and supply chain and reporting to Mike Edwards. Most recently she was brand president for Chico’s FAS, and she had been svp, general merchandise manager for Ann Taylor Stores. Borders has also named Eric Kovats regional vp for the Southeast and Beatrice Vicente as regional vp for the West Coast. Kovats was regional vp at Stores for Heartland Automotive Services, “the largest franchisee of Jiffy Lube Stores in the country.” In other personnel news, at Crown, Rachel Berkowitz has been promoted to manager, foreign rights, and Nidhi […]
Borders CFO Mark Bierley Leaves for a Better Job, and More People News
Borders had just promoted chief financial officer Mark Bierley to the added position of chief operating officer of Borders Inc. in June and bumped his salary up to $600,000 in late June but he has resigned “to pursue another employment opportunity.” VP Glen Tomaszewski will serve as interim CFO while the company searches for a replacement. Penguin USA president Susan Petersen Kennedy will take over as chair of the AAP Trade Publishers Executive Committee. At Random House Children’s, Meika Hashimoto has been promoted to assistant editor, working on Golden/Disney projects. (Additionally, her middle grade novel THE MAGIC CAKE SHOP has […]
Barnes & Noble Today: Waiting for Earnings, As Riggio and Burkle Both Say They Don’t Want to Work Together
The next news event for Barnes & Noble will be the reporting of first quarter earnings tomorrow morning. Analysts surveyed by Thompson Reuters are expecting a loss of 80 cents a share on sales of $1.42 billion, though the company’s guidance was for a new loss in a range of 85 cents to $1.15 a share. The net loss for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010, reported June 28, was 89 cents a share. At the time, BN said they expected first quarter Barnes & Noble.com sales–where Nook revenues are recorded–to increase between 30 percent and 50 percent. BN store […]
Books-A-Million Comps Decline 3.4 Percent As Earnings Improve
The bookseller reported second quarter sales of $120 million, down 2 percent overall and down 3.4 percent on a same-store basis compared to a year ago. Net income of $1.9 million was up $500,000 compared to last year. BAMM ceo Clyde Anderson says in the release, “our team did a good job to deliver solid results in a tough environment” (which is what they usually say). They claim in the release that it was a difficult comparison to a year ago–“the success last year of the Twilight series and titles from Glenn Beck and Mark Levin proved difficult to match […]
ABA Will Add Used Bookstores As Members, Reduce Some Dues
With substantially-reduced membership and a challenging environment to drive dues from existing members, the American Booksellers Association president Michael Tucker wrote to members about a variety of initiatives starting next February. Most significant is that the organization will expand by making used bookstores eligible for membership. They are also adding a special membership category for new stores and new members. Both used stores and new members will be charged reduced dues, as will stores with low sales volume. Tucker writes that “ABA is making these changes because we believe in the opportunities inherent for community-based, indie booksellers in this time […]