Macmillan announced a restructuring of its central digital marketing team. Cristina Gilbert has been promoted to senior vice president, publishing and marketing strategy, reporting to Jon Yaged. Newly reporting to Gilbert will be Cara Chirichella, vp, digital marketing & technology and Jacob Fanning, senior director, email marketing and CRM. The evp, marketing & consumer strategy role is being eliminated, and Jeff Carroll will leave Macmillan. Hillary Scarbrough has been promoted to vp, business systems. Newly reporting to Scarbrough will be Clark Fife, senior director, metadata services. On the trade finance team, Jason Arvelo, vp, data science & analytics, will now […]
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People, Etc.
Liz Stein has been promoted to executive editor for William Morrow. At Dutton/Plume, Natalie Church has been promoted to marketing manager and Caroline Payne to assistant marketing manager. Stephanie Kelly becomes senior editor for Dutton, and Cassidy Sachs associate editor. At Catapult, Megha Majumdar has been promoted to senior editor, and Kendall Storey has been promoted to editor & foreign rights manager. Hana Park has been promoted to assistant editor at Simon & Schuster. Tricja Okuniewska has been promoted to assistant editor at Putnam. Tom Marquet has been promoted to managing editor, digital, at Random House Children’s, and Bess Schelper […]
People, Etc.
Obituaries National Book Award winner Barry Lopez, 75, died Christmas Day following a lengthy battle with prostate cancer. Publishing veteran Roland Elgey, 65, died recently of colorectal cancer. He was 65 years old. His 40 years in publishing included serving as president of Que Computer Publishing and svp of sales at Que/Sams, Hungry Minds. Later in his career he worked in publishing services, most recently as vp for business development at Integra Software Services. Biographer Scott Donaldson, 92, died on December 1 of lung cancer. Poet Jean Valentine, 86, whose collection Door in the Mountain, won the 2004 National Book Award, […]
Struggling Barnes & Noble Education Gets $15 Million Investment from Sports Merchandiser
Barnes & Noble Education got a lift from news of a modest $15 million investment from sports team retailer Fanatics (and their brick-and-mortar subsidiary that sells hats and other merch, Lids). The investors will receive 2.3 million shares in BNED, bought at the far-above-market price of $6.50 a share. The parties intend to create a “long-term strategic omnichannel merchandising partnership” (the reliance on “omnichannel” to make it sound important is a warning on its own). While BNED has been touting their growing expertise in digital and ecommerce, now they proclaim that Fanatics is the key to “bring[ing] a best-of-breed retail […]
Denver Investors Buy Tattered Cover
A group of investors led by Denver residents Kwame Spearman and David Back of Bended Page LLC have purchased Colorado bookstore chain Tattered Cover from co-owners Len Vlahos and Kristen Gilligan, who will remain with the business until the end of June to help with the transition. The sale includes four locations in and around Denver and a fifth planned for Westminster, Colorado. Under the new ownership, it will be the biggest Black-owned bookstore in the US. Spearman, who is ceo and major shareholder of Bended Page, said, “The Tattered Cover, and all it embodies for us as Denver natives […]
Barnes & Noble Has Eliminated Almost A Third of Staff
The WSJ looks at Barnes & Noble’s turnaround efforts, focusing on the standard James Daunt storyline. Deep in the piece is the news: If December sales are good, then BN’s sales will be down 20 percent for the year. “In recent months” the company laid off about 5,000 employees, “the majority of whom worked part time.” Compared to April 2019, the chain has eliminated 7,500 jobs, now employing about 16,500 people. Half of the New York-based corporate staff has been eliminated, approximately 125 people. The story also notes that prior to the pandemic, Daunt had a weekly lunch with independent […]