This time a year ago publishers were worried about printing and restocking the books customers wanted before the holidays, but now the concern that a number of publishers and agents have been expressing in recent weeks is somewhat of the inverse. They’re focused on leftover stock at Barnes & Noble that will be sold under shared markdowns or returned after a post-holiday sale, along with signals that initial orders from the chain for spring are running lighter. Those issues are all seen through the lens of a particularly tense holiday sales period: The late Thanksgiving left only three-and-a-half weeks to […]
Bookstores
UK’s Book People Is Insolvent, Hopes for Quick Sale
Book People, an online and pop-up bookseller in the UK, has gone into administration (the UK equivalent of bankruptcy protection) with administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers searching for a buyer. Sky News said the firm “had been overseeing an auction of The Book People in recent weeks” — clearly not successful yet, though private equity owners Endless say that a number of “credible” parties expressed interest. None of the company’s 400 employees (the oversized holiday staffing level) are expected to be laid off immediately, but “the longer-term prospects for the business, staff, customers and suppliers will clearly be dependent upon whether a sale can […]
People, Etc.
Michael Signorelli has joined Aevitas Creative Management as agent. Previously he was managing director at Gotham Ghostwriters and an editor at Holt and HarpeCollins. Awards PEN America announced their 2020 literary award longlists. Best of The WSJ picked their top 10 books of the year, as did People magazine. USA Today has moved on to 20 “must read” forthcoming winter picks. Bookselling Employees of McNally Jackson voted yesterday to join the NYC Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which will represent approximately 90 employees who handle sales, events, stocking and information services. In the union’s announcement, Kathryn Harper, who works at the […]
People, Etc.
Daniel Loedel will join Bloomsbury as senior editor, starting on January 6. He was at Scribner. Catherine Tung is now an associate editor at Beacon Press. She was an assistant editor at Vintage. Mary Gaule has been promoted to associate editor for Harper and Harper Perennial. Megha Majumdar was promoted to editor at Catapult. Associate publisher, sales & marketing at Catapult/Counterpoint/Soft Skull Jenn Abel Kovitz announced on Twitter that she is leaving the company in mid-January. The Gernert Company has opened a West Coast office in Culver City. Seth Fishman is managing the new office after three years in Los […]
Reisman Admits Indigo’s Transformation Hit “A Brick Wall,” Will Expand Proprietary Product and Experiences Next
Indigo ceo Heather Reisman spoke to BNN Bloomberg as part of the groundbreaking ceremonies for the University of Toronto’s Schwartz Reisman Innovation Centre, funded by a $100 million donation from Reisman and her husband Gerry Schwartz. Reisman is more candid than she has been during recent Indigo investor calls in acknowledging that the first phase of the bookseller’s transformation is played out and more dramatic changes are needed. “As many people know, we started a big transformation a few years ago and we had really good success with it. And then we ran pretty much into what I call a […]
Briefs: Neon Literary, Bloomsbury’s China JV, and More
Agency News Anna Sproul-Latimer and Kent Wolf have joined to launch Neon Literary, with offices in New York and Washington, DC. Sproul-Latimer has been at the Yoon Ross Agency for almost 15 years, and Wolf has been at the Friedrich Agency. They say in their announcement “it was the eventual realization that their clients were intersecting–on social media, at events, and in writing groups–that signaled to the two agents that coming together made perfect sense.” “Neon Literary is on a mission to dismantle the Big Ideas Industry, smuggling money, power, and frontlist glory out to authors who might not have […]